I Walk Alone
by Aria6
Summary: Instead of meeting Rukia, Ichigo was deathly ill and finally passed into Soul Society. What happens then? Renji/Ichigo or maybe Ichigo/Byakuya, I haven't decided yet. Read and review!
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: Would you like this to be Ichigo/Renji or Ichigo/Byakuya? Right now it could go either way. XD Haha.

A pale, tired face looked back at him as he stood in front of the medicine cabinet. With a small, defeated sigh, he picked up the pencil on the sink and carefully marked another day off the calendar. It was Sunday the fourteenth. Pulling out his pill tray, he popped open the section for that day. The pills gleamed brightly at him, like macabre confetti. Filling up a glass of water, he began to swallow them. There were far too many to take all at once.

Putting the glass down, Ichigo closed the medicine cabinet and looked at himself in the mirror again. He didn't look a single bit better. Shaking his head, he left the bathroom, wondering why he was taking the pills in the first place. They were only delaying the inevitable. Sprawling on his bed, he ignored his textbooks and rested an arm over his eyes. What was the point in studying?

_The operation will fix it, Ichigo. You'll be better soon._ He sighed at the memory of Isshin's voice, shooing it away like an irritating fly. His father hadn't meant to lie to him, just keep his spirits up before the operation. He couldn't have known it would go so badly. But it had, and the only option now was a heart transplant. And that wasn't going to happen. Ichigo had a rare blood type and he just didn't have enough time. The pills weren't really doing much, it wouldn't be long before something gave out. His father was still trying to reassure him, but Ichigo could see the despair behind the false cheer. His sisters were still denying reality.

_Stop it Ichigo! You're going to be fine! Just stop it!_ His mind supplied Yuzu's hysterical words after he'd tried to tell her he loved her, and give her some instructions on how to care for his pet lizard. Karin had yelled at him to stop being stupid, he was going to be just fine.

Ichigo knew they were wrong. He could feel how wrong his heart was, feel the slight delay in the beats and the way it sometimes stuttered in his chest. They'd considered giving him a pacemaker, but decided the operation would likely kill him. Ichigo didn't think it would matter in the end, and knew his father thought the same, however much he might deny it.

What he really missed was being able to play ball and practice with the wooden swords. He just didn't have the strength anymore, and he couldn't afford to get his heart rate up. It started stuttering like mad when he did, even a run to the bus stop would do it. Ichigo hated being treated like an invalid, and hated even more that he was one.

Deciding he'd marinated in misery enough for the day, he sat up and picked up a textbook. It might be pointless, but he would study for his father. He loved Isshin and was even missing his early morning sneak attacks –

The hammer that hit his chest was as painful as it was unexpected. The book dropped to the floor as he clutched the side of his chest, dropping to his knees. The door opened but he couldn't look up, trapped in the crushing pain.

"Ichigo, aren't you coming to dinner… Ichigo? PAPA! PAPA!" Yuzu's shriek was the last thing he heard.

* * *

Renji stumbled through the darkness, a hand on his stomach, trying to staunch the flow of blood and hold everything in place.

_Byakuya is going to kill me when I get back. Lost my whole fucking squad, how could I? Not my fault the intelligence was completely wrong, but still my responsibility for leading them into a trap!_ They had been told they'd need to fix a small rip between Soul Society and Hueco Mundo. Those kinds of tears happened out here in the hinterlands. They hadn't expected to find a really fucking _big_ rip and a damned mated pair of Adjuchas setting up a den! Not to mention dozens of weaker Hollows that had spilled through, trying to find fertile hunting grounds.

It had been a mess. A single Adjuchas could match a Captain in battle, and Renji had enough strength to match one. He didn't have enough for two and they'd had to retreat, leaving the dead behind. That had scorched his soul, but worse had come when the lesser Hollows had ambushed them. He could still hear their gleeful cries. Maybe some of the others had survived, he really had no way of knowing. Renji had gotten separated from the squad in the flight and now he had no damned idea where he was going. Then he froze as he heard a hiss and felt the malevolent spiritual pressure. It was new, but he recognized the type.

_Another Adjuchas. What in hell is attracting them?_ He thought with a preternatural calm as he turned to meet the onslaught. Something had to be attracting the Hollows to this area. Hueco Mundo was a paradise of reishi, they didn't need to come to Soul Society. The only thing he was thankful for was the lack of Gillians, although that was likely due to the Adjuchas. Gillians were huge and this little valley wouldn't support them, so the stronger Hollows had likely wiped them out. Not that it would matter. He'd used up his strength earlier, there was no way he was going to survive…

"Ay, fuck you!" Renji and the Adjuchas turned in a bizarre harmony at the sound of the voice. "Yeah, you, weasel breath! Fuck you and your buddies!" A rock bounced off the Hollow's mask and Renji drew in a hissing breath as he saw the kid standing straight and defiant on a rock. "You want a real fight, not a man who's holding his guts in? Fuck you!"

"Are you crazy? Get out of here!" He shouted at the kid. He looked to be a teenager, maybe a young adult, with bright orange hair and brown eyes. He looked hostile as hell and had an immense spiritual pressure, but he wasn't even carrying a sword!

"And you shut the hell up!" The boy yelled back at him. "You and your buddies had to stir everything up! Well, I'll clean up after you!" The Adjuchas started forward, hissing with amusement. The amusement turned into a yowl of pain as the next rock seemed to catch fire and cracked his mask. The Hollow staggered back before launching himself at the boy, but the teen wasn't there anymore. A fist hit the Hollow in the chest, followed by a booted foot to the crotch. Any question about Adjuchas genitalia was answered as the creature doubled over. But then it shrieked like a mad thing and landed a blow on the boy, tearing his shirt and raising a line of blood on his shoulder. "You want it like that fuck face? Yeah? I'll fuck you up!"

"Damn it!" Renji groaned as a wave of weakness went through him and he ended up on one knee. He didn't have the strength to keep standing, let alone stop the stupid kid from getting killed. But there was one thing he could do. "Kid, use this!" And he threw his sword as far as he could. It didn't go far enough, but the kid was there and caught it. Renji blinked, wondering if his eyes had been playing tricks on him. Was that a flash step? But the sound was wrong.

One thing was for sure, the kid knew how to use a sword. Renji watched in amazement as the battle continued, only slightly less one sided than he'd expected it to be, but the other way. The two of them met in midair and for a moment he wasn't sure who had won. But then the Adjuchas' head parted ways with the body, and the boy turned back to look at the two thumps.

"Told you weasel breath." He flicked the sword to remove the blood before looking at it as if he was puzzled by its presence. "Where did I… oh yeah. Are you still alive over there?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Renji grunted as he struggled to stand. He needed to – but a hand came down on his shoulder.

"Fine? Look, I'm medically trained, so take it from me, a gut wound is _never _fine. Shit, I need to get you to the cave." The kid helped him stand and Renji thought about protesting, then gave up. After two battles and a gut wound, the kid was right. He'd be easy meat for the next Hollow he met, and at this rate it would be another damned Adjuchas! "Can you help me out here? I'm not sure I can carry you without attracting attention."

"Y-yeah." Renji muttered, focusing all his attention and energy into putting one foot in front of the other. He wasn't sure about this but he had to assume this kid really did have a safe place to hide. How else could he have been surviving surrounded by Hollows? Then he caught a glimpse of the boy's eyes and tried to jerk away. "What the fuck?!" They were… wrong. The eyes were gold and the sclera were black.

"What? Oh, my eyes. It's nighttime, don't worry about it, I'll explain later if you live." The kid ordered and Renji hesitated a moment before giving in. Those eyes were disturbingly Hollow-like, but the kid clearly wasn't a Hollow. Of course, the question of what he actually was, was up in the air.

The kid led him to the canyon wall of the valley. It was badly broken and Renji hissed as the boy dragged him up over the rocks, keeping one hand on his stomach. He could feel his guts trying to get out and knew if he wasn't a strong shinigami, he would never have gotten this far. The kid seemed to understand and shoved a shoulder under his, trying to lift him a bit.

"Sorry. But we're up a bit high." He muttered. "Lean on me, you can make it." Renji nodded and let the man take his weight a bit more. It took a while, but they finally reached a cleft in the rock. "In here."

"Right." It was a small crack, really. Renji had to turn sideways and squeeze through, gasping as he brushed against the stone. But the sudden warmth in the cave and the way hands grabbed him and voices rose as he came in was welcome. Faces swam in front of him, but he could tell he was safe here. He felt the kid easing him to the ground and saying something, but let it all pass by.

He was safe here, and he could rest.

* * *

Renji came to his senses in blinding pain.

"Don't move!" A voice above him ordered and he froze, opening his eyes just a slit. It was the kid. "I'm still stitching you up. Sorry, we don't exactly have anesthetic around here." That explained the pain. "I'm just glad you were out when I checked your guts for lacerations." Renji was glad of that too. Having someone's hands in his insides was not his idea of a good time. It seemed to take forever but finally the stitching was done, and Renji looked down to see neat little black stitches on his belly. It was hard to believe, but it seemed like the kid really did have some medical training. "You need some water?" The boy asked and Renji blinked as he realized he was parched.

"Yeah, sure." The kid offered him a metal flask and Renji spared a bit of amusement for the appearance. If he hadn't known better, he'd have thought someone had beaten it out of gold. The water inside was cool and crisp, and he felt strength immediately flooding back. "Who are you, anyway? Can't keep calling you kid."

"Not unless you want me to fuck you up when you're better." The kid agreed and Renji snorted. "I'm Ichigo Kurosaki. And you are?"

"Renji Abarai." Renji tried to sit up but stopped as a hand thumped down on his chest.

"Woah there! I'll help you up if you want, but you take it easy. You aren't too badly off but you're not in good shape. You had two punctures on your intestines." Renji shrugged. He'd had worse. The boy didn't seem the least bit amused though. "If you get infected, which you probably will, this is going to get ugly. Don't push it."

"I'm a shinigami, we're tougher than that." Renji had no doubt at all that he wouldn't get infected. Shinigami very rarely came down with wounds related infection or sickness. The boy lifted his eyebrows and shook his head.

"I don't know what a shinigami is, and I don't really care. Just take it easy. Tanny, do we have any cushions?" He called to someone and Renji lifted his head, seeing a young man with tawny hair. He'd been staring dreamily into a candle but came to himself with a start at Ichigo's call.

"Sure do boss, I'll go get them." He ran off, and came back a few minutes later with an armload of leather cushions. They were filled with down feathers and Renji let Ichigo prop him up with them. He had a feeling the guy was going to be a nuisance, since he clearly didn't know how fast shinigami could recover, but for now the help was welcome. Sitting up, he looked over the cave for the first time.

It was a small cave. Renji wasn't sure how the little pocket had formed in the first place, but there were no side caves, no privacy at all, just this open space. There was no fire or other heat, but just body heat could probably warm it, with two dozen people sleeping in furs, talking, or otherwise carrying on. A good ten of that number were children and Renji noticed that the adults were mostly dressed in clothing from the living world, carefully maintained and mended, but the children were wearing buckskin and furs. He guessed at least half of them had been born here. The rest were probably plus souls, but they would grow like normal children now that they had reached Soul Society.

"There's one thing I need to tell you." Ichigo said quietly and Renji turned his head to meet brown eyes. They looked completely normal now and he wondered if he'd imagined the black and gold earlier. "Look over there." Renji followed his pointing finger and blinked at the sleeping woman on the floor. Then a trickle of ice went down his spine. She was too still, her hands neatly folded over her chest, a candle above her head and below her feet. "Her name was Verity Bassar. You owe her your life." His gaze snapped back to Ichigo and the younger man smiled sadly. "I'm awful at sensing power, probably because my own tends to drown others out, and I was asleep anyway. Verity woke me and told me about your battle, and that I needed to go to you. Her last words."

"What did she die of?" Renji asked softly, looking at the body again. She was beautiful, her skin pale as milk and her hair the color of flax. She looked heartbreakingly young to die, although that could be deceptive. Plus souls with great spiritual power often stopped aging when they crossed over.

"Childbirth, and my ineptitude." Ichigo answered with scorching self-condemnation. "She was in hard labor for almost two days. I should have done the c-section sooner, but I knew it would probably kill her. I had to do it anyway, and the baby was already dead. And then she got infected, I try to keep everything sterile but…" Ichigo stopped and Renji stared at the anguish on his face. "There was nothing I could do."

"Do I smell the rank stench of blame again?" They both looked up. It was a slender man with short black hair, beginning to silver at the temples. He was wearing glasses and what had started out as a very nice dress shirt and slacks. They had been well cared for, but still showed signs of abuse, and whatever shoes he'd come with had been replaced with buckskin moccasins. He adjusted his glasses before regarding Ichigo, who wouldn't meet his eyes. "I told you, Ichigo, I'm a science teacher and I enjoy history. I read a study once that analyzed the parish records for medieval England and found that seven out of ten first time mothers would die in childbirth or of complications. The fact that Verity's age was frozen at fifteen only made the danger worse, and she was aware of it. We all made our choices, so stop being guilty that you couldn't manufacture a miracle."

"I know, Richard. I know!" Ichigo sighed, looking down. "Sorry. It just… bothers me. I can't help but feel I should have done more."

"Do you know how to do a healing infusion?" Renji asked. Ichigo looked at him, surprised, and shook his head. "I'll show you later then. If you've got any talent, that will help." He wasn't sure Ichigo would have much talent for healing though. His power sparkled like a spring of water, ever renewing, but Renji had a feeling his talents might not lie in that direction. Or maybe they would. He was trained as a medic, after all. "Where did you learn this stuff?" If Ichigo's age had frozen when he'd entered Soul Society, he'd been just a teenager when he'd died. Ichigo smiled then.

"I worked at the clinic for my dad, helping him out with things. I never did an operation of course, but I saw plenty of them and passed him tools. I'm still just learning though." He added darkly and sighed. "It hurts to lose patients."

"I bet that's how your dad felt when he lost you." Renji commented then realized he was a jackass as he saw the stricken look on Ichigo's face. "Sorry, sorry." He quickly apologized as the redhead shook his head.

"It's not… how did you know? That I was his patient?" He demanded and Renji shrugged, careful not to disturb his stitches.

"I didn't. You're just look awfully young, and I'm guessing your age froze when you came here, and if your dad was a doctor, well…" He couldn't really explain why, but his mind had just jumped to the conclusion that Ichigo had likely been treated by his father. It seemed he'd been right, too. "How old are you really?" He asked curiously and Ichigo glowered at him.

"Eighteen." He grumbled and Renji blinked. "I haven't been here long, I'm just the strongest."

"I see." Renji yawned, grimacing as it pulled at the stitches in his stomach. "Ugh. I should get some sleep."

"So should I." Ichigo said tiredly, but before he left he made sure Renji was settled in again. "If you need to cough or laugh or anything like that, press a pillow to your stomach. It will help ease the pressure on your abdominal muscles."

"Yes doc." He said playfully before closing his eyes, and was pleased to hear Ichigo snort.

"Please, I'm no doctor. Call me medic or Ichigo, but not that." Ichigo said but his only answer was a snore. "Ah, typical." Shaking his head, the redheaded young man went to his own bed and curled up to get some sleep.

It had been a long night and he was going to need it.

* * *

_Ichigo sat on the edge of a tower, gazing out over his city._

_It was a place of dreams and hope, despair and pain. If he wanted to, he could walk through the most beautiful memories and dreams he could create. Or he could walk through the darkness of his heart, revelling in the dark feelings. When he slept this way, all feelings filled him to overflowing, threatening to break his heart._

_But today his heart knew what it wanted, and warm arms slid around him from behind. A warm tongue tickled his throat and Ichigo moaned, arching lightly into the touch. But he was also the toucher, and his own hands slipped through rough cloth even as his body felt those hands yanking his shirt away from warm skin._

_**What are we doing today?**_ _Both mouths moved and the sound came from two throats, a strange synchrony. But by now, he was used to it. It was just how things were. A tanned hand caught a white one and fingers tangled together in an intimate dance. __**Will we be taking that man? If he permits it.**__ The answer came on the heels of the question, the words akin to thoughts. __**Or let him take us, ah, we would like that.**__ The mutual terms were important with these dreams. If he failed to use them his other body would vanish, submerged in the one. And the more Ichigo learned to love these dreams, the less he wanted that to happen._

_Then he turned, meeting his other half. He was the kissed and the kisser, the burned and the burning. A dark fire ignited them both, fueled on pain and fanned by hope. It was everything and it was nothing, and when he sank into himself he felt he might die from the pleasure of it. Words of encouragement were whispered as the sun turned red and a wind began to blow, sending sand through the streets of the city. Screams of pleasure rent the air as his soul soared on wings of light and bone, accepting the very heart of what he'd felt when his mortal heart had begun to fail._

_It was beautiful, it was terrible and Ichigo could not have turned away from it any more than a moth could turn from a flame. But the pleasure and the revelation could not last forever and he came down, hands tangled in the hair of his other self, brown eyes meeting black and gold. A last kiss teased his bruised lips, the dual pleasure finally melting away. And as his second body vanished, Ichigo whimpered and reached for it. But the dream was done and could not remain. The city melted away, giving way to a more normal sleep._

_But he would remember. He always remembered._

* * *

The next morning, Ichigo was rather embarrassed.

The first problem was that he'd soiled his blankets. Calling those dreams a wet dream was like calling the ocean a bit damp. The second problem was how… loud he could be during those dreams. The sock someone had so thoughtfully stuffed in his mouth was a sign he'd been at it again, and he spat it out before jerking himself up.

"Okay, who's the wiseguy?" He demanded and got laughed at. Everyone was awake and just beginning the morning routine.

"Sorry Ichigo, it was that or strangle you." Richard said with a chuckle, adjusting his glasses. "If we were still in the real world, I would suggest you go see a psychiatrist for that. But since we're not, I suppose we have to endure."

"It was one heck of a show." Ichigo glanced over at Renji and met appreciative cinnamon eyes. The man was grinning, leaning against the wall. "I asked if I could molest you, but they said no."

"Not with those stitches in your stomach." Ichigo said automatically, but his heart skipped a beat at the suggestion. Since he'd died he'd figured out he was mostly gay. He could do it with a woman, but it just didn't do much for him. Unfortunately, he was the only guy like that in the group so he'd resigned himself to celibacy… well, outside of the dream fucks, at least. If Renji was serious… "But when you're better, I'll take you up on that." Ichigo met startled brown eyes with calm aggressiveness. He was dead serious and wanted Renji to know it.

"Maybe if you don't look at me with your eyes like that. It's pretty creepy, you know." Renji said and Ichigo blinked and grimaced, realizing that his dreams had brought his dark powers closer to the surface. Closing his eyes and raising his hand to cover his face, he concentrated on calming the roiling power inside. He lowered his hand and Renji looked slightly relieved. No one else cared, though. They'd seen his eyes both ways a thousand times before.

"Sorry." He said and meant it. Levering himself to his feet, he went over to the shinigami and eyed his wound critically. "Some sunlight and fresh air might do you good, if you don't strain that. Would you like to see a bit of our home?"

"What, it's safe out there?" Renji looked shocked and Ichigo grinned.

"Safe as a brick house. None of the Hollows move around in daylight, when I take you outside you'll see why." The thought amused him. When Renji sampled the power of the valley, he'd get a real treat. And maybe it would speed up his healing. Now that he wasn't quite as drained, Ichigo could tell he was powerful, more powerful than Verity and possibly as powerful as himself. That was hard to say though. Ichigo couldn't really sense his own power, so it was difficult to measure himself against someone else.

"I'd love to." Renji said then suddenly went quiet. Ichigo sent him a questioning look. "Sorry, just thinking. If we'd attacked in daylight things would have gone better."

"Uh… well, maybe." Ichigo said diplomatically. He actually didn't think so for a moment. "But the Hollows can move around in daylight, they just don't choose to. I don't think it makes much of a difference to their power." That seemed to make Renji feel better. "I… hope you didn't lose too many people." He said awkwardly and then regretted it as pain flared in Renji's eyes.

"Too many. We'll make them pay!" He growled and Ichigo bit his lip, before shaking his head and helping the redhead up. "Ow fuck!"

"Don't be a pansy." He advised and grinned as Renji tried to punch him in the shoulder. "Weak as a kitten, my friend, weak as a kitten."

"Ah shut up – holy shit!" Ichigo grinned as Renji finally saw the valley in all its glory.

It was worth a second look. The valley was actually a caldera. Magnificent mountains rose up on all sides, and from the height of their perch they could see everything. The caldera was huge, and a great pine forest filled it, with trickling streams running from the mountains and feeding the lake. The lake was the most beautiful shade of aquamarine. The greenish tint came from the minerals and silt filtering down from the mountains. Or so Richard had said, and as a science teacher he would know.

"I didn't realize this place was so big." Renji seemed to be in mild shock as he looked down at the lake. "What is THAT?" Ichigo followed his gaze and saw there were a few plumes of stuff rising off the lake. Nothing unusual, unless you hadn't seen it before.

"Maybe you can tell us. We just call it spirit energy. The lake spits it off all the time." Ichigo said as Renji looked stunned.

"It's called reishi, but if there's enough for it to do that, the lake must be full of it!" He said. Ichigo watched as more bright blue plumes blossomed from the surface of the lake. Then Renji noticed something. "How the hell did I make it up here?" The trail leading up to the cave was steep and looked difficult even in daylight. Ichigo laughed.

"With a lot of help! Do you want to try going down, or just have a seat here?" Ichigo asked. Renji hesitated a moment before nodding.

"Oh hell yeah. This, I must see." He said and Ichigo smiled as he helped the redhead down. He'd actually hoped Renji would agree. It was too dangerous to do up here, but he had a way to get him to the lake much faster than just walking.

"Okay." Ichigo said when they reached the ground. "Now, hm." He looked at Renji assessingly. He and the shinigami were almost exactly the same size. That was going to make it difficult, but he was sure he could do it. Putting a hand on Renji's shoulder, he smiled as the other man looked at him questioningly. "It might be easiest if I carry you piggy back."

"What?" Renji said, pulling away. "There's no way you could carry me that far! I can walk." Ichigo raised his eyebrows and shook his head. The redhead was good at hiding his pain, but that was just not going to happen. His father would never have let a patient in his state walk that far, and Ichigo wouldn't either.

"No way. I'll get us there in a snap, you just have to trust me." Ichigo kneeled down and put a hand over his face, bringing the darkness to the surface. Then he glanced at Renji, knowing he would see the black and gold eyes, and gave him a wicked smile. "Unless you're scared?" That was the perfect thing to say and uneasiness gave way to anger.

"Scared of you? Don't make me laugh!" Renji growled as he wrapped strong arms around Ichigo's shoulders. Ichigo shivered for a moment at the feel of those arms, then gathered himself. He had no name for what he did then, but the trees passed by in a blur. In less than a minute he was able to set Renji down by the lake. The redheaded shinigami staggered before catching himself and looking at him wide-eyed.

"What was that? It felt like flash step, but it sounded different." He asked and Ichigo shrugged before glancing over the water.

"No idea. It just came to me one day." He said, which was nothing but the truth. From the look on Renji's face he didn't believe it. "Look, isn't it beautiful?" Ichigo said, changing the subject. Fortunately it was a good place to redirect attention and Renji gazed out over the lake. "Hey, sit down, I'll get you some water."

"You drink it?" He asked as he took a seat on one of the rocks. The lake had a rocky bottom in most spots, and the rocks continued up onto the shore. Many of them were large and flat, which made for easy spots to sit.

"Of course." Ichigo said absently as he carefully made his way to the shore. The rocks were slippery and it took a bit of concentration to avoid ending up on his ass. "We can live on nothing but this." He said as he handed Renji the full flask.

"You're kidding right? …Oh." Ichigo grinned as Renji sipped the water. From the look on his face he might actually be having an orgasm. "This… this is like pure reishi! No wonder you're so powerful!"

"I was powerful when I got here, but I do admit it put the cherry on top." Ichigo agreed, looking back. Everyone else was starting to make their way down to the lake. "I'm the strongest, but I'm not the only one who's good. And the kids are going to be brilliant someday, if they live." The constant exposure to the reishi strengthened anyone, but it worked better on children. None of them were anywhere close to his power though. "You see how the Hollows can live on it too."

"Yeah." Renji finished the flask then lay back, just basking in the flow of energy. Ichigo took the vial back and filled it up again before drinking himself. The power hit his system with a cool jolt, mimicking the feeling of the icy water sliding down his throat. It also made him feel sleepy, as his body began digesting and assimilating the raw reishi. The energy was all positive in nature and his darker side receded, soothed under the torrent of energy. He settled down beside Renji, who was already beginning to doze off.

Warm and happy and content, he soon fell fast asleep.

* * *

_Ichigo walked through empty streets, past the empty shells of broken dreams._

_But it was not sad. They were simply dreams that had outlived their usefulness, longings for things he could not have. Dreams of college, raising a family, living a normal life. He didn't mind that they were gone and didn't even really miss them. They shuddered at his touch and vanished, washed away by water and replaced with flowers._

_The positive energy flowed through him and the city was being overrun with plants. Brilliantly living and full of bright colors, they twined around the cold steel and made it their own. This was not an unusual dream, but something was different. Someone was watching him. That made Ichigo very uneasy. His dark side was so much a part of him that it had no real independent existence, so it couldn't be that. Turning in a circle, the feeling that he was being watched became stronger. But there was nothing for him to see that –_

"_Ichigo!" The voice did not come from the dream and Ichigo blinked as buildings shattered like glass._

* * *

"Ichigo!" Ichigo groaned as a tiny piece of trouble landed on his chest.

"For gods sake Danica, watch it!" He tried to shove the little girl off, but she dodged him and planted her knees directly onto his ribs. "Ow, that hurts!" The towheaded little brat just giggled.

"The council wants to see you!" She said and that woke Ichigo up completely. It was probably a bit grandiose, calling their little circle of elders a council, but everyone had taken to calling them that. Glancing over at Renji he was relieved to see the other man was asleep. To Ichigo's senses he was radiating contentment and good health, which was remarkable with his injuries. He just hoped it wasn't an illusion.

"I'll be right there." He told Danica, who jumped up and ran to the other children. They had devised some kind of game that involved stones and sticks and a lot of jumping. The rules seemed to be impossible for adults to comprehend.

Ichigo pulled himself to his feet and stretched before heading into the woods. Their usual meeting place wasn't far from the lake, a small clearing with four makeshift benches. Only two were occupied and his heart was heavy as he took his own seat. Normally, the fourth would have gone to Verity, but right now only Richard and an old woman named Matty were there.

"What's up?" He asked, although he could guess. Richard confirmed his guess a moment later.

"It's quite likely we'll be making contact with the rest of the world soon." His expression was somber. "We need to consider what that means." Ichigo nodded as Matty looked pensive.

Until Renji's arrival, they had known almost nothing about what went on outside of their valley. Getting out was almost impossible. There was only one exit from the valley, a narrow path of stone between the mountains. The Adjuchas were laired up close to its opening, and other Hollows lived in the crags above him. The rip to Hueco Mundo was also somewhere along that path, which made it extra perilous. Only Ichigo could make it out, and he had, but after a few days of scouting on the other side he'd given up and come home. There was no one and nothing in any range for him to meet. Everyone else, though, was effectively trapped. Renji's goal had been to seal the rip, though, and if that could be done things would change. The caldera would still be isolated but no longer impassable.

"That would be a good thing, wouldn't it? We could finally get some medicines, some antibiotics!" Ichigo said. If only he'd had antibiotics he might have been able to save Verity.

"It could also be very bad." Richard said dispassionately. "There's gold in the lake, Ichigo." Ichigo nodded. They had all fished gold nuggets out of the lake. Without anyone to buy them, though, they were pretty and largely useless. They had learned how to make flasks, cups and plates out of them. "And the lake itself might be a resource. We could be facing the same problem of any small group sitting on top of a very valuable resource."

"He's saying we could be forced out at best, killed at worst." Matty added as Ichigo wanted to argue. But he held his tongue, because he knew they were right. He'd taken enough history in school to know what could happen. "We don't know anything about these people."

"So we should just continue in our splendid isolation? And what about Renji?" Ichigo scowled at them both. "He's going to want to leave as soon as he's better, and if we let him go alone he'll be dogfood." He knew Renji would vehemently disagree, but Ichigo thought he was either delusional or trying to protect the civilians. There was an uncomfortable silence that Richard broke with a sigh.

"Yes, that's the other problem. Can we in a good conscience let him go alone?" The question hung in the air for a moment before Richard shrugged. "I would say no. You're right, he would almost certainly die. Ichigo, you'll have to go with him and try to protect our interests." That made Ichigo hesitate.

"But then you won't have a medic." He objected. He was the only one in the group with any kind of medical training. Matty shrugged.

"We all know some basic first aid. We'll live without you." She said and Ichigo had to admit to himself that she was probably right. "And you're the only one that can go." That was certainly true. There was a decent chance he could get Renji past the nesting pair without alerting them, and if he couldn't, Ichigo might be able to intimidate them into letting him pass. They were very much aware of the teenager and didn't want to have a thing to do with him. "But make sure you keep our interests in mind!" She warned and Ichigo nodded, making a mental note.

He would not let his people be victimized by Renji's, under any circumstances.


	2. Sex!

"Hello there!" Renji opened his eyes and blinked lazily as the little man he'd seen earlier sat down beside him. The shirt, spectacles and pants went together well but they clashed badly with the moccasins.

"Hey. Richard, right?" He asked and was answered by a smile and a nod.

"I was wondering, Renji. We're so isolated here. Can you tell me about yourself? What the rest of the world is like?" He asked in a soft, gentle tone. Renji laughed, feeling completely relaxed. Even his stomach didn't hurt much anymore, with all that beautiful reishi sloshing through his system.

"Oh, I'm just a street brat! Grew up in the Inuzuri, worst place you ever saw…" Renji told him all about the Inuzuri and was flattered by the real interest Richard was showing. But then, it was all new to him. Then he mentioned how Rukia had been adopted into the Kuchiki clan, and that moved the conversation to something slightly different.

"Tell me about the noble clans. What kind of things do they do?" Richard asked. Renji folded his hands behind his head, thinking about it.

"Oh, all kinds of things!" Renji told him and began explaining the duties of the clans. He didn't even notice that other people were listening, or the concerned looks that were exchanged when Richard asked how they handled unclaimed territories.

"Oh, well, if there's something valuable the clan that finds it first gets to stake a claim. Then they can do anything they like – OW!" Renji jerked upright as someone yanked on his ear, hard. "What was that for?" He demanded as Ichigo scowled at him. What was the kid's problem?

"I think we need to talk, Renji." Ichigo said and he stared at the quiet venom in the kid's voice. "Richard, if you'll excuse us?"

"Ichigo, you really shouldn't – " Richard started but then stopped as Ichigo shot him a look that was really a naked threat. The older man sighed. "As you will." He got up and left and Ichigo gave a scorching glare to the pair of girls who were a bit too close. They quickly gave him some space and Renji realized that even the kids were staying away.

"You are really fucking stupid." Ichigo's voice was still quiet and venomous. Renji stared at him, shocked and more than a bit offended. "Do you know how tempting it is to slip you into a quiet _grave_ right now?"

"What? What the fuck?" He tried to wrap his mind around that. What had suddenly made the kid so hostile? "You and what army?" He demanded, although he supposed the army was right over there. None of them seemed pissed at him though. Ichigo hissed a breath out between his lips.

"It wouldn't take an army right now, and if you think anyone would lift a hand to help you, you are sorely mistaken." Ichigo suddenly rubbed his eyes and sat back on his knees. "Fuck. Fuck you and fuck this and fuck everything. I won't hurt you but I really, really want to. Why are you scaring the shit out of everyone? Are you fucking stupid? Do you want us to attack your precious captain when he comes to find you?"

"Why would…" Renji paused then suddenly paled. Byakuya was a noble, and what he'd just said… "Oh, shit. Uh, Ichigo, it's not like that! This place is the ass end of nowhere, Bumfuckistan, shit, it takes weeks to get here even with flash step! No one's going to bother with this place!"

"Yeah, right." Ichigo gave him a strange look. "You haven't noticed, have you?"

"Noticed what?" Renji snapped back, feeling like he was close to losing his temper. He didn't appreciate being threatened over something so stupid.

"The flasks, the cups, the plates. Even those little sparkly rocks the kids are playing with. What do you think they are, pewter?" Renji stared at him, confused, and Ichigo sighed. "It's gold Renji. This lake is lousy with gold. It's very pretty but only good for utensils, so we make plates and flasks out of it. Are you saying that gold is worthless?"

"Oh… fuck." Renji muttered, looking at the lake waters. The reishi in them bubbled merrily, unperturbed by any mortal concerns. He supposed that was a resource too, although he wasn't sure you could bottle reishi. It would probably come out of the water. "Gold's pretty valuable." He admitted, not looking at Ichigo. The kid was right to be upset.

"What I figured. Is there anything you can say to reassure people, Renji? Because right now things are not looking too good around here, and we have kids to care for." Ichigo looked tired then, tired and drawn. Renji took a deep breath.

"Look, Ichigo, I can't promise anything. But Byakuya is not a bad guy and his clan is already seriously wealthy. I'll put in a good word for you with him, hey?" He said, trying to calm the kid down. It was true anyway. Byakuya didn't need the gold, he'd probably be more interested in the reishi. Ichigo looked skeptical but shrugged.

"Well, I'm not about to let you die after all that work I put in, so I guess it will have to do. Just try not to run your mouth off so much, okay? I know it might be difficult." He added and Renji grinned.

"You know me already!" He joked before trying to stand. "Ow!" The pangs from his stomach let him know he wasn't that healed yet. "Do you guys ever swim in the lake?" He eyed the waters. It was a hot day and they looked inviting.

"In a glacial runoff lake? Only if we're feeling really adventurous. Do you know how cold that water is?" Ichigo asked and Renji grinned at him.

"No. Help me down there so I can find out." Ichigo blinked at him and he puffed out his chest. "I'm a man! I can take it!"

"You're crazy. But if that's what you want." A smile tugged Ichigo's lips and Renji was pleased to see it. Threats aside, he thought he liked this crazy kid.

He'd do what he could to make sure things came out alright for him.

* * *

Two days later.

"Aw, that's so cute." Ichigo narrowed his black and gold eyes, trying to enhance his vision. Any observer would have said he looked horribly sinister, but in truth he was just trying to see. He could see quite well in the dark, but the distance was a bit much.

He was spying on the two Adjuchas in their lair. The female of the pair – the one who stayed at the nest, anyway, Ichigo wasn't sure how Hollow reproduction worked and he damn well wasn't going to try to sex them – was just chivvying out a tiny cub. It was pretty strong though, and Ichigo thought it could have survived on its own if it absolutely had to. The male gave it a piece of his kill and the cub tore it up and gulped it down.

The female Adjuchas looked like a wolf, and the male looked like a lion. The cub looked something like a fox and Ichigo smiled to himself as it flirted a little tail before stealing another piece of the kill. The male growled, but his heart clearly wasn't into it.

"Boo!" Ichigo nearly jumped out of his skin at that. The soft breath on his ear didn't help a bit. He turned his head to meet cinnamon eyes and a shit-eating grin.

"Renji! What the hell? You almost made me shit my pants!" He hissed, keeping his voice low. The Adjuchas had good hearing. "What are you doing here? If they sense you they'll try to kill us and maybe move the den!" Ichigo did not want that to happen. They all knew where the Adjuchas were right now, and they studiously avoided the area even in the daytime. If the pair moved, Ichigo would have to rescout them and that would be an infernal nuisance.

"Eh, I was bored and wanted to see what my Strawberry-chan was up to." Renji said, playfully mussing Ichigo's hair. The young man's eyes narrowed and he picked up a rock, tossing it in his hand warningly. "Richard told me you'd probably be here. What are you doing anyway, spying on Hollows?" He asked and Ichigo smiled wickedly.

"Didn't you know? I'm making a film for NatGeo. Today on National Geographic, the family habits of the common Adjuchas class Hollow! Not interested? Tune in tomorrow where we explore the mating habits of a shinigami known as 'Renji'… hey!" Ichigo gasped as a warm tongue suddenly assaulted his throat, gripping Renji's shoulders. That was… incredibly hot.

"Why wait until tomorrow?" He whispered into Ichigo's ear and the younger man groaned softly as blunt teeth assaulted his neck. Pulling himself back to reality he glanced at the den.

"Not here. There's no way I can stay unnoticed during that, and I don't want Adjuchas' teeth in my ass right in the middle." He said firmly and Renji laughed, but pulled back a little and cupped his face, tilting it to see his eyes better. That surprised Ichigo quite a bit. He'd thought Renji didn't like his dark eyes.

"Those eyes are starting to grow on me. It's like you can see into my soul." He said and Ichigo swallowed. He could see better when his eyes were like this, but he couldn't see souls… yet. He could see a powerful aura around Renji, and that ability had only showed up a year ago. There might be more to come. Would he eventually be able to see souls? Shaking away the unsettling thought, he smiled at Renji. "Where should we go?"

"The lake. I want to show you the lake at night." Ichigo had been thinking about that for a while. This was a perfect opportunity. He wanted to see how Renji would react to the dark energy of the lake. "Run with me." If Renji could get all the way to the Adjuchas' den, he was recovered enough to run. Taking Renji's hand, Ichigo deliberately held himself to a pace the shinigami could manage. When they reached the lake, though, Renji gave him a strange look.

"That is _definitely_ not a flash step. You have no idea what that is?" He said before looking at the lake and almost jumping back, reaching for his sword. Ichigo laughed and looked at the lake. "What the hell?!" His concern was understandable. There were dozens, perhaps even hundreds of Hollows on the banks of the lake. They had already slaked their thirst for the reishi, and most were sleeping or just wandering around. A few were eating some of their comrades. The waters of the lake would sustain Hollows, but could not help them evolve into higher forms. The ones that had the urge to evolve still needed to feast.

"Don't worry, they're fairly safe after they've fed. And I can clean them out." Ichigo concentrated a moment and projected his reiatsu in a pulse of dark fire. Renji wavered on his feet but endured the crushing spiritual pressure. The Hollows, on the other hand, scattered like a flock of birds. Or like a herd of antelope at the presence of a lion. "C'mon." Ichigo walked down the suddenly empty beach. Renji followed carefully and stopped as he felt the power of the lake.

In the night, the lake was a dark beauty. Reishi still bubbled to the surface but it was infused with the power of death, not life. Ichigo basked in the dark glory for a moment, just soaking it in before he waded into the water. Cold as ice, it ripped at his legs as he bent down and filled a flask. Lifting the dripping vessel to his lips, he tossed back his head and drank. Then he shuddered as the power hit his system, heavy and sweet and bitingly painful. Taking a deep breath he turned to look at Renji and smiled.

"Would you like some?" He wasn't expecting the other man to take him up on that. He especially wasn't expecting Renji to wade into the water after him. "Careful!" He quickly gripped the man's shoulder. He was used to the mild pain of the dark reishi laden waters, but it wouldn't be good if Renji fell into it. Ichigo had taken a swim in it once, but that had not been voluntary. The shinigami hissed but ignored the pain and grabbed the flask.

"If you can do it, so can I." He said with a cocky grin before taking a deep gulp of the water. Ichigo grinned as he waited for the inevitable reaction. "OW FUCK!" Renji bent over, a hand to his stomach and his face pale as the power hit his system. "You – you drink this all the time? How can you?"

"You get used to it. Can you taste how sweet it is?" He asked, still holding his shoulder. Renji blinked and licked his lips before nodding. "It's wonderful. Terrible, but wonderful."

"Just like you." Renji's hands were on him then and Ichigo laughed softly as he was pulled into a hard, bruising kiss. It felt so damn good, and he wanted to drag Renji down into the water and ravish him then and there.

_Why the fuck not?_ Instinct took over and Ichigo wrapped Renji in his dark power before taking them both down and into the water. The freezing cold tore into him but also invigorated him, and he claimed Renji's lips, even more roughly. The cloak of power was protecting the shinigami from the water, and after a tiny hesitation Renji began to explore cold, yet oddly warm and pliant flesh.

Ichigo made each kiss an intimate duel, a struggle for dominance. The deep, primitive instincts of his dreams demanded that Renji submit or force him to submit. There was no simply giving up, not when the dark power was washing over them. And Renji seemed to feel the same way. Ichigo grinned as cinnamon eyes briefly flashed gold and Renji suddenly gripped his arms, flipping him over. But Ichigo was not going to simply take that, oh no.

"Are we going to have sex or wrestle?" Renji asked as Ichigo eeled out of his grip and tackled him back. Ichigo's answering laugh had a strange, echoing quality. It didn't bother him at all, but he saw a jolt of alarm in Renji's eyes… alarm that was wiped away as Ichigo savaged his neck, making him groan and arch in pleasure.

"Depends. Will you let me take you?" Ichigo met Renji's eyes and saw the fire in the shinigami. He wasn't going to let that happen. "If not, it's both." Renji growled and surged up against him, briefly turning the tables on the younger man.

They were both sweating, despite the water, when there was finally a decisive victory. Ichigo screamed in pain and pleasure as Renji slammed into him, catching him at just the right moment. He submitted completely then, long white fingers scraping down Renji's back and leaving thin trails of blood. If the shinigami noticed, he didn't mind as he continued to pound into Ichigo, making him arch and twist in ecstasy. The water flowed between them and over them, caressing them as they caressed each other, and Ichigo knew his skin was turning bone white. But it didn't matter, all that mattered was the friction and the pressure against his prostate as Renji slammed into him again and again. Renji's low, guttural cries made the whole thing even better, and Ichigo couldn't hear his own voice but he knew he was screaming.

Finally, after endless moments things turned white hot. The physical was nothing to the spiritual and Ichigo didn't even bother to suppress his outpouring of raw power. Water flew everywhere as his spiritual pressure blasted it away, leaving only Renji unscathed and grinning wickedly as he joined his own pressure to the mix. Then the pressure eased, and Ichigo had a moment to realize he'd made a mistake before the water poured in with a clap.

"OH FUCK!" That scream was entirely unsexy as all their power blew out like an extinguished candle and they both ran for the shore. Renji slipped and almost fell but Ichigo grabbed his arm, heaving him up. Helping each other, they finally got to the rocks and the air that felt blistering hot after the ice water of the lake. Ichigo looked around blindly for his clothes. Renji was rubbing his arms and shivering like mad, trying to warm himself up.

"This really wasn't well thought out." Ichigo said dazedly, looking back at the lake. "… My clothes are gone." He'd been wearing them when Renji came in the lake after him, and the redhead had practically torn them off. Sexy as hell, but now where were they? Who knew? And Renji was just as naked.

"What? Shit! My clothes! What are we gonna do, walk back bare-assed naked?" Renji yowled and Ichigo couldn't hold back a giggle that quickly turned into a laugh. Soon he was laughing so hard he felt like he might be sick. "It's not that funny!"

"Oh, oh god, it's fucking _hilarious._" Ichigo managed to get out between giggles. "I bet we woke everyone up too with all that spiritual pressure. We're going to get eye raped. The girls are going to be in lust for a week." Renji paled and looked up at the hill. There were already lights starting up. "C'mon, let's go. They're probably worried we had a fight with something." Reason was starting to reassert itself and Ichigo did not want his friends to get hurt by the Hollows. They were mostly safe after feeding, but mostly was not a good adjective when it came to skin and pointy things. And unlike him, the rest of the group couldn't fend Hollows off with the force of dreadful personality.

"God… one moment!" Ichigo blinked as Renji uprooted a small bush and used it to shield his private parts.

"Um, you realize those things sometimes have fire ants, right?" He asked conversationally and Renji looked blank for a moment before screaming.

"FUCK!" Then he was running back to the water and Ichigo was having another bout of hysterical laughter.

He wasn't sure Renji would ever want to have sex with him again after this, but honestly? It was worth it.


	3. Ichigo vs Byakuya, Round One

Renji gently teased Ichigo's neck, making the orange haired boy arch and whisper his name. They were lying in a meadow, far enough from the lake to be private. Ichigo was a screamer, but he'd known that since the first day.

Since the first semi-disastrous episode, they'd only made love in the daylight. A completely different side of Ichigo came out in the sun, more caring and sensitive. Also less impulsive and not as burning _hot_ as his dark self, but a lot easier to be around. His eyes still went black and gold, but only when they were deep in the middle of things.

Renji was guiltily aware that he was wasting too much time here. He was recovered, completely. Ichigo had taken out the stitches the day before. But he just didn't want to leave. The strawberry in his arms was unbelievably sexy, and the daily infusions of reishi made him feel better than he'd ever felt in his life. Renji was beginning to understand why these people were so afraid of being forced out of this place. Who would want to leave this paradise?

"Weren't you going to train me again? Because if you keep doing that, we're going to be having sex." Ichigo said, giving him a feral little bite. Renji groaned, his cock twitching at the suggestion. That sounded awesome, but…

"Nah, let's get back to training." Renji resolutely put aside his fantasies, pulling his clothes back on. It had taken a while, but they'd managed to reclaim them from the lake. He was just glad his were in one piece. Ichigo's tighter clothing had taken more damage when he'd ripped it off, and it was heavily mended now. Right now some of the women were taking apart leather cushions to free up enough material to make him some handmade clothing. Renji's mouth watered at the thought. The group didn't have any really good seamstresses, or real needles for that matter. The kids mostly wore leather smocks with tie ups on the sides. Ichigo would look so hot in one of those…

"Are you going to train me or stare at my ass?" Ichigo asked and Renji came back to himself with a blush.

"Okay, right. Let's do that one I showed you yesterday." Renji demonstrated the kido again as Ichigo watched intently. Kido wasn't his best thing, which made it harder for him to teach it. But Ichigo didn't have a sword and didn't seem to need much help in the ass kicking area anyway. Taking out an Adjuchas was not something an amateur could do.

Surprisingly, Ichigo was pretty bad at kido. Renji wasn't sure of course – he was no teacher! – but he thought there was some kind of mental block at work. Half the time Ichigo tried to use kido his eyes went black and gold, and when that happened he always failed. And that was what happened this time.

"Damn it! I did it again." Ichigo cursed as Renji grinned and shook his head. He was actually kind of glad there was something the kid wasn't good at. The level of power he had already was pretty alarming, it would be scary if he mastered kido right off the bat. "Trying to stay nothing but positive is hard." He complained and Renji shrugged.

"Well, you'll need to learn how if you ever want to be a shinigami. We don't use hollow powers, you know. It's actually against the law." Renji was uneasily aware that the punishments for that could go up to execution. But Ichigo wasn't a shinigami at the moment. As far as he knew, there was no law against plus souls having that kind of power. Of course, there was no law about killing them out of hand, either, and eliminating Hollows was why shinigami existed. Ichigo turned his head to look at him, lifting his eyebrows.

"Don't take this the wrong way Renji, but I'm not sure I want to be a shinigami. First off, I have no problem with most of the Hollows around here, although I understand that they'd be more destructive without the lake. Second, the chance of me ever abandoning my other powers for these shinigami ones is about negative a thousand. Those powers are part of my soul and I love who I am." Renji met those calm, aggressive eyes and felt his heart skip a beat. Ichigo's whole existence would be a challenge to Soul Society and the fact that he didn't give a fuck was scary and sexy as hell.

"I'm not saying you have to. But keep it in mind, hey? I'd like to have you with me all the time." Renji said sincerely. He wasn't sure he loved the kid, but he did know he really wanted to find out. Ichigo looked startled, then smiled.

"Aw, you do care! Let's try that again." Ichigo carefully centred himself. "Way of Destruction One: Stinging Bee! Fuck!" Ichigo's reiatsu fluctuated, but nothing happened as his eyes flickered for a moment. "I am going to get this if it kills me." He swore as Renji laughed.

"Why don't we have a nap, drink some more water and try it later?" He suggested. He'd noticed Ichigo had an easier time with the kido when he was full of the positive water. Renji was willing to bet that during the day, the lake water tipped his internal balance more towards shinigami than Hollow.

"Sure, it might be worth a try." Ichigo was starting to sound discouraged and Renji gripped his shoulder, giving him a squeeze.

"You'll get it someday." He said encouragingly and Ichigo shrugged his hand off irritably.

"That's what my sister told me when she made me wear mom's high heels." He grumbled and Renji snorted at the thought. "And no, I never did get the hang of that."

"Good, that would just be wrong." Renji said as they made their way back to the lake. Neither of them noticed a little blonde girl trailing after them and zapping bushes with gleeful giggles.

The very first way of destruction really wasn't very hard.

* * *

"_Ichigo." The voice reverberated through his soul, and the buildings shook as a spectral wind danced through them. The sky was painfully bright, without a single cloud, and Ichigo shielded his eyes as he glanced around and tried to find the owner of the voice._

_This was a completely new dream. He had merged with the darkness so completely that it no longer had a separate voice. Despite Renji's training, Ichigo did not think that had changed. So who was calling to him? Someone new?_

_He finally located the owner of the voice, standing high atop a skyscraper. Dancing with darkness, Ichigo slid through the reality of his own soul until he was standing beside the man. He turned instantly and they stood for a moment, regarding each other thoughtfully._

_Ichigo saw an older man, lightly bearded and wearing glasses. Wild, dark brown hair flew around him, and his clothes were old and tattered. He was holding a sword and exuded power, but it was strangely pure. Purity was just not something Ichigo was into, so this was curious. Was this his shinigami side? For a moment he wondered if it could be incorporated the same way his darkness had. He took one step forward and stopped as the man levelled his sword._

"_That will not work." He said dispassionately. "I am not a Hollow that can be tamed with mating instinct."_

"_Heh." Ichigo heard the echo in his voice and knew his skin was bleeding to white, but he didn't care. "I didn't think so, old man. But it was worth a go and you never know until you try, eh?" Ichigo noticed as one of the man's eyes twitched and knew he'd succeeded in annoying him. Good. "So what do you want with me?"_

"_You are finally reaching out to me, Ichigo. It has already taken too long. But you must prove yourself worthy of my power." He said calmly and Ichigo sat back on his heels for a moment before laughing._

"_You want to fight old man? Bring it on!" And this was his own soul, so he did not have to be unarmed unless he wanted to. He fashioned himself a sword that was white as a bone and pointed it at the stranger. "Who are you, so I'll have a name to put on the tombstone?"_

"_I am Zangestsu." And so began a truly exhilarating battle._

* * *

"Renji!" Renji was deep in a sound sleep, curled on his side, when something small and obnoxious jumped on him and planted knees right into his ribs. "Wake up!" Then a little hand curled in his hair and gave a yank, tearing him out of pleasant dreams.

"OW! Fuck Danica, what the hell is it?" He glared as he sat up, dumping the child on the ground. He knew most of their names by now, and Danica was the most memorable of the lot. Small, loud and pretty damn precocious when it came to absorbing the lake's energy, he could tell she'd be trouble someday. Hopefully, he'd be long gone by the time it happened.

"I want to show you what I can do! Way of Destruction One: Stinging Bee!" She tossed it right at his face and Renji's eyes widened as he grabbed his sword to parry it. He could have blocked it easily if he'd been expecting it, but he hadn't and he swore as it lashed his arm lightly.

"Danica! That is not a fucking toy and do not ever throw that at someone's face again! How the hell did you learn that?" Then he realized. "You little brat, you've been spying on us!" It was bad enough that she'd learned the kido, but how much had she seen before that?

"You make funny noises!" She piped in, making his face turn red as a brick. That answered that question. "Richard says Ichigo is being funny and you should come see!" She shouted and he ran a hand over his face.

"I've already seen his wet dreams, I don't need to see another." He replied, although truthfully, those dreams were hot as hell. He'd really wanted to take advantage of one a couple nights ago, but there was just no privacy in the cave. Instead, he'd gotten a sock for Ichigo and tried to ignore it. Danica laughed.

"Not that! Richard says he's bleeding!" That got Renji moving instantly and Danica was right at his heels, laughing as if it was all a great bit of fun.

When he got to Ichigo he saw several people standing over him, frantically trying to apply the healing kido he'd been teaching them. It wasn't doing a bit of good and one look at the kid's reiatsu told him why.

"He's challenging his zanpakuto. But he doesn't even have a zanpakuto yet!" Renji knelt down and touched Ichigo's forehead, then swore as a long cut opened from his shoulder to his hip bone. Fortunately it wasn't deep but it splattered the rock with blood, dying the stones a vivid crimson. "And it's not supposed to be this violent!" Not unless he was trying to earn a ban kai, anyway. Then the spirit in the zanpakuto would go all out. But there was no way in hell Ichigo was trying to get a ban kai when he didn't even have a sword. "What is he doing?" Renji muttered to himself, trying to figure it out. Ichigo didn't have any kind of weapon. Was he trying to force his zanpakuto to manifest? Usually they didn't need forcing for that, but maybe Ichigo's mental block was getting in the way. "Come on Ichi, you can do it." He encouraged and was pleased to see Ichigo's head turn slightly, as if the kid had heard him.

"Can this kill him?" Richard sounded calm but when Renji glanced over at him, he was looking pale and shaken. His hands were covered in blood and Renji could sense he'd drained most of his reiatsu trying to heal the injuries.

"Uh…" Renji had never felt so helpless. He couldn't go into Ichigo's inner world to help him. Maybe some of the captain's could have, but he just wasn't skilled enough with kido. And besides, the way Ichigo's reiatsu was pulsing made him think it would be an awful idea. It would just figure if Ichigo and the zanpakuto both turned on him to force him out! "I don't know. A normal zanpakuto wouldn't kill him, even if he was trying to get a ban kai, but I've never seen anything like this." It looked like the zanpakuto was a no holds barred, balls to the wall kind of spirit. Renji winced as another slash opened on Ichigo's shoulder. Placing his hands over the wound, he tried to invoke a healing infusion. He might as well have been trying to heal a boulder. "Come on Ichigo, you can do this. We believe in you." He murmured.

There wasn't much else he could do.

* * *

"_Come on Ichigo, you can do this. We believe in you."_ _Renji's voice echoed in the momentary silence of his soul world. Ichigo stood facing the old man, panting heavily. He'd never fought an opponent like this in his life and while he loved it, he was starting to wonder if he could win._

_Zangetsu was not unscathed. Blood stained those tattered clothes, but he was completely unwinded. As far as Ichigo could tell, he wasn't feeling his injuries much either._

"_You are worthy of my power." Zangetsu suddenly said. Ichigo blinked, surprised._

"_Giving up, old man?" He asked, unable to stop the taunt. There was no expression in Zangetsu's face as he levelled the sword again._

"_But now you must accept me into your soul." The battle began again but this time, Ichigo's mind was a thousand miles away. Accept into his soul? What did that mean? He'd accepted the darkness into his soul by fucking it. Zangetsu clearly wasn't going to accept that method. How could he accept someone that was fighting against him? What did sex and battle have in common?_

_At that moment, he knew the answer. It was shocking and went against every instinct he had, but Zangetsu was not a creature of instincts. So it made a terrifying kind of sense. If he was wrong, though… fear paralyzed him for a moment, and then flashed into anger._

"_Fuck it. I am not a coward!" Letting his blade of bone vanish into the mists, he leapt towards Zangetsu without any attempt at defence. The other's blade sliced through his chest easily as a dream and Ichigo gasped, mostly at the absence of any pain. But then he reached down to take the hilt of the sword as Zangetsu let go. "Mine now." He informed the old man, who seemed to smile for a moment before vanishing._

_And the dream shattered as someone called his name._

* * *

"Ichigo!" Renji shook the kid's shoulders, utterly horrified. The last wound on his chest had almost stopped his heart. No one had expected it to suddenly seal over, healing instantly. And they really hadn't expected all the other wounds to follow suit. "Damn it Ichigo, wake up!" He roared into the boy's face and was rewarded by fluttering eyelids.

"Shut the fuck up Renji, I'm fine." He said groggily, his hands moving like they were searching for something. "Got it. I am the boss." Ichigo grinned and lifted his hand up, revealing the large and brutally sharp looking sword. "Meet Zangetsu!"

"That's awesome, but look around you, will ya?" Renji snapped and Ichigo blinked before he glanced around, paling. The rocks around him were coated with a dangerous amount of drying blood.

"Shit, that was real?" He whispered, looking around a circle of concerned faces. "I thought it was a dream." Renji really wanted to hit him, but held back. The kid's reiatsu was dangerously low, not a surprise after that kind of show.

"When you confront your zanpakuto in your spirit world, the damage you receive is done to your physical body." He said, then stopped. From the look on Ichigo's face it was all gibberish. "Did Zangetsu tell you anything about what he is?"

"No, not really. But I know he's the lighter side of my power." Ichigo looked thoughtful for a moment. "I wonder why I didn't see him sooner?" He said to himself and Renji shrugged. They both looked up as Richard arrived, holding a flask of water. Renji hadn't noticed him leaving but it was clearly a good move, as Ichigo downed the lake water like he was parched.

"Got me. But I'll tell you a bit about the zanpakuto, after you get cleaned up." He said, eyeing Ichigo's clothes. They were in incredibly rough shape. The kid looked down and grimaced, standing up and wobbling slightly. Renji grabbed his shoulder, helping him down to the lake. He glanced back to see that Richard and a few others were trying to clean up the rocks. He was willing to bet they'd always be a little stained. But that hardly mattered.

What mattered was that Ichigo was still alive.

* * *

"Oh, fuck." Ichigo muttered as he turned slightly from his crouched position. He was kneeling beside the lake, and he had been drinking from the dark waters.

He'd just started his scouting for the night. He'd figured it would be easy. Take a drink from the lake, check the Hollow population to see if he needed to cull a few, spend a bit of time watching the Adjuchas and then back to bed. With his ability to move quickly, it was hardly any work.

That had all just gone out the window. Even from here, he could sense someone lighting off with some serious mojo. It was coming from up near the pass, and moving towards the Adjuchas lair, if he was any judge. Ichigo stood up and grimaced, wiping his hands off on his pants. His shirt had officially checked out, so he was done to nothing but torn and badly mended jeans. Not the kind of image he'd wanted to present to Renji's captain but it looked like he didn't have a lot of choice.

"The Adjuchas." He growled to himself as he started for the lair. He hadn't told Renji because he was positive the shinigami wouldn't understand, but he was protective of the little group. They had been there for a while, and the kid was cute as a button. With the lake and other Hollows to feed them, they didn't bother anyone. It seemed wrong that they would all be killed. But maybe, maybe they had fled with the cub.

Unfortunately, that was not to be. Ichigo grimaced as he saw the female darting away from the den, clearly leading pursuers away from the cub. The male wasn't there and Ichigo was willing to bet he'd already fallen in the fighting. The shinigami following the female was surprisingly pretty, with long hair that flowed behind him like a river of darkness. Ichigo followed, hoping the female would get away, but that wasn't happening either. She turned as she reached a sheer rock face, hissing madly as the shinigami stepped closer. Ichigo saw with dismay that she was already badly injured. If he was going to act, it had to be now.

"Hey! Hey you!" Two heads turned to face him as he threw his first rock. It hit the shinigami on the shoulder, with nothing but muscle power behind it. "Yeah you, fuck face!" From the look on the shinigami's face, he'd never had that term applied to him before. "You like to pick on a female with pups? Fuck you! Leave her alone!" The Adjuchas seemed as baffled by his intervention as the shinigami but Ichigo didn't care, pulling his sword off his back and letting the black ribbon settle around his bare arm as he levelled it at the other man.

"You are not a shinigami. Who are you?" The shinigami asked, his voice deep and, well, beautiful. Ichigo was suddenly struck by how attractive he was. It was a completely different attraction than Renji, but still powerful.

"My name is Ichigo. I live here and you don't." Ichigo said sternly. He wasn't going to go easy on this shinigami just because he was cute. Although those silver things in his hair were extra pretty. "And I'm filming these guys for NatGeo, so you can just fuck off and die." The shinigami clearly didn't get the joke, and his eyes narrowed as he turned away from the Adjuchas. She just huddled down for a moment before licking herself frantically. Ichigo thought she was trying to heal herself enough to fight. Right now, she would be dead meat if she attacked either one of them.

"You think you can defeat a Captain? You will pay for your arrogance." He said softly and Ichigo blinked. Captain?

"Arrogance is my middle name." Ichigo answered easily. "And I paid for it a long time ago. Let's mix this up!" He launched himself at the stranger and sword clashed against sword. A dozen strikes later and he bounced back with a grin. "You're fucking fast!" He said admiringly. This guy was faster than Renji, and Renji was not slow.

"What are you?" The shinigami asked and Ichigo realized his eyes had just flipped. He shrugged insolently before picking up another rock and tossing it. This time it ignited with blue fire and the shinigami had to deflect it.

"A potential shinigami, if Renji has his way." Ichigo said flippantly and grinned at the sudden stillness of his enemy. "You know him, hey?"

"What have you done to him?" The deadly tone was back and the battle was on again. Ichigo didn't answer because he couldn't. Apparently, he'd pissed the guy off and now he was totally on the defensive, fending off dozens of strikes. "Way of Destruction 53: Hell Strike!"

"Oh bloody hell." Ichigo muttered as a ball of fire thundered towards him. "Way of Destruction 1: Stinging Bee!" It was probably the dumbest thing he'd ever done in his life, but for once he performed the kido perfectly and he gave it everything he had. The dart of power should have been easily consumed by the more powerful strike, but it wasn't. Instead it deflected the incoming strike, sending it into a tree that exploded into flaming splinters. "Hey! You better not set the forest on fire or I am going to fucking hunt you down and murder you in your SLEEP!"

"Like you murdered Renji?" He asked with deadly calm and Ichigo blinked as he realized the guy totally had the wrong end of the stick.

"Are you kidding? He was screaming my name just yesterday – ah!" Ichigo got his sword up in time to parry a blast of what felt like pure energy. It drove him back until he could gather himself to break it with his will. Then he jumped to the side as a sword bisected the spot he'd occupied a moment before. "You're freaking me out now!" Ichigo was starting to privately wonder if he could win this battle. He was strong, but damn.

"How did you stop a level 53 kido with a level 1?" The shinigami asked as their swords clashed again. That was worrisome just by itself. How could he talk like that? He wasn't even breathing hard!

"I am a meat miracle." Ichigo gasped out and had the satisfaction of seeing his enemy look mildly revolted. "And I have vast tantric sex powers." He added just to fuck with him.

"You are an idiot." Then something happened too fast for Ichigo to follow. His sword was ripped out of his hand and he felt the tearing strain through all of his muscles as the other man spoke. "Kido of Binding 29: Force web!"

"F-fuck ow!" Ichigo groaned as all his muscles locked up. It _hurt._ But he was far from done yet. "You think it's over? You think you have me? Fuck you fuck face!" And he concentrated, hard, and _pulled._ Reishi exploded from the trees and lake and the shinigami jumped back as they sloshed over him, invigorating and filling him with power. "Yeee-AH!" He shattered the bonds on him with simple, brute force and grinned at his enemy, bathed in an unearthly dark light. As he picked up his sword again he noticed his skin was dead white. "You want more? And did you notice that the bitch is gone?" He asked conversationally and was satisfied to see the shinigami quickly look around. Sure enough, the Adjuchas had recovered enough to retreat from the clash of titans.

"Ichigo, what are you – Captain!" Ichigo stopped at that voice and was pleased to see his enemies eyes widen. "What are you guys doing?" Renji sounded confused as he stepped out of the trees. "Ichi, tone it down, would you? You feel like a Hollow again."

"Ah, fuck you too Renji." Ichigo said without rancour and put a hand over his eyes, trying to calm the power he'd just summoned. It was almost impossible, but he managed it by releasing some of the reishi back into the environment. "You know this guy?" He hadn't moved an inch since Renji arrived, and he'd lowered his sword. Ichigo did the same. He was pretty sure now that this guy would eventually fuck him up if he kept at it. He was scraping the bottom of the barrel of his useful abilities.

"This is Captain Byakuya. Ichigo, have you been fighting him? Are you nuts?" Ichigo hissed as Renji slapped him upside his head. It wasn't gentle at all and he had a cut there on top of it.

"He was going to kill the Adjuchas female and ruin my documentary. Ow! Stop hitting me!" He shoved Renji on the shoulder then stopped as a blade was pressed to his throat. "And please don't kill me?" He'd been too distracted with Renji to watch Byakuya. Clearly, that was a mistake. He wasn't afraid of death but Ichigo really didn't want to embrace it again this soon.

"Renji, who is this man to you?" Captain Byakuya's voice was full of quiet menace. Ichigo was truly impressed, especially at the cowed look on Renji's face.

"He saved me from an Adjuchas and nursed me back to health, Captain. His name is Ichigo Kurosaki and he's only been a plus soul for three years." He said. Ichigo tried to lean away from the sword then froze as Byakuya stared at him. "He might be my lover… uh, can you please not do that?" He asked nervously as a drop of blood appeared on Ichigo's throat.

"What do you mean 'might'?" Ichigo breathed, afraid to move an inch. Then the sword was suddenly gone and he sighed in relief as Byakuya sheathed it in one smooth move. He straightened his shoulders before looking at the Captain challengingly. "And if you people try to steal our valley we will do everything we can to fuck you up – OW! Renji, for fuck's sake, I have a cut back there!"

"I'm sorry about this Captain, he gets weird at night. Where is everyone else?" Renji asked as Byakuya just looked at Ichigo. Ichigo looked back, uncowed and unimpressed. The staring contest might have gone on forever, but Renji waved his hand in front of Ichigo's face. That broke the tension and both the contestants blinked.

"They are sealing the rip to Hueco Mundo. Please report." He commanded crisply and Renji did, explaining everything that had happened to him. Ichigo was mildly impressed at how well edited the report was. No mention of midnight swims, Hollow powers and other socially unacceptable behaviors. "And this… man is your lover?" Ah, but the editing was noticed.

"I told you, I have vast tantric sex powers." Ichigo put in and dodged Renji's slap. "Hah! I'm ready for you – mrph!" He wasn't expecting a hand over his face, though. "Mrphmrphmrph!"

"Just shut up! Sorry Captain." Renji apologized again as Ichigo rolled his eyes. He wasn't appreciating this at all, but he wasn't quite ready to bite Renji. That would be the next step though. Byakuya wasn't looking even remotely amused. "These people are all kind of upset about us."

"Explain." Byakuya commanded crisply and Renji told him about the gold and the power of the lake. A sudden thoughtfulness seemed to settle over the shinigami. "That is a logical concern." From the faint surprise, he hadn't been expecting logic. Running over the whole encounter in his mind, Ichigo couldn't be too offended. Logic hadn't really been his strong suit tonight. However, the thoughtful stare Byakuya gave him was a bit worrisome. "We can begin to deal with these people tomorrow, but I will give you this assurance. You will not be forced out of your homes." That made Ichigo relax a little, but he needed a bit more. He tugged on Renji's hand and the redhead reluctantly let him go.

"And you'll leave the Adjuchas alone?" He asked warily and avoided Renji's appalled look. "She was just trying to defend her cub. We'll probably have to take over bringing her kills and water." That would be a nuisance, but it was possible to hunt down Hollows in the day so they could definitely do it. Byakuya paused and Ichigo thought he detected a bit of fatigue on that handsome face.

"We will leave her alone for now, but I make no promises. Now come. My men are waiting." He commanded and Ichigo hesitated before falling in behind Renji. He wasn't sure about all this and had a bad feeling he might have pissed off the most important person around. It made him worry for everyone else, but not himself.

He'd given up worrying about himself a long time ago.


	4. Sealing the Gate

"And so there we were, no shit…" Ichigo muttered as he took a tiny sip of something warm and alcoholic. It was his first alcoholic drink, in fact, not counting the little chocolate liqueurs he'd sometimes had at Christmas. He was finding he didn't much like it. It tasted nasty and made his ears feel hot, and besides, he had the feeling he might get drunk really fast. It was better to not even go there.

He was surrounded by Byakuya's men. Saving Renji had clearly gotten him some regard, but his eyes freaked them out. He couldn't help it though. With this many Hollows around, in the dark of the night, his eyes were not changing back. So no one was talking to him at all, except to give him a bit of food and alcohol.

They were up in the mountain pass and from what Ichigo could hear, sealing the rip was going poorly. Renji's curses could be heard in the camp. Finally getting tired of it, he set down his cup and stood up.

"Where do you think you're going?" A strong young man materialized beside him and Ichigo glanced at him, unimpressed. He'd been able to see the entire flash step, so he wasn't very good.

"To go see if they need some help. Why don't you escort me?" He said and the man hesitated, glancing over at another burst of cursing. "Clearly it's not going too well." That was probably an understatement.

"Very well." The man clearly decided the decision was above his pay grade. "I will walk behind you." He added and Ichigo grinned. That was amusing.

"Worried about me running away? Alright. Just don't stab me in the back." He said playfully before walking towards the trouble. He arrived and watched the shinigami for a moment. Byakuya was as calm and collected as always, but Renji was sweating and flushed. There were two more shinigami with them, and both of them looked like they could hardly stay on their feet. The rift was still there and malignant as always. "Well, this looks like it's going great. You guys need some help?" He offered, strolling down into the middle of things. Renji looked like he couldn't believe it while Byakuya gave him an inscrutable look.

"And what do you think you can do to contribute? This requires kido, and Renji says you have no skill with it." He said and Ichigo shrugged, looking at the rift. It was kind of pretty, in a dark way. He could see the sands of Hueco Mundo beyond it.

"I can see better than you in the dark." Ichigo said mildly and put his hand over his eyes for a moment, concentrating. Then he lowered it and squinted, trying to bring things into focus. "Oooooo." He whistled softly as the flows of power became visible. Renji, Byakuya and the others seemed to change, their bodies merging with their power. Renji was an adorable smudge of power, only lightly touched with the darkness of the lake. But Ichigo stopped dead on Byakuya. "You are really powerful but why are you so disturbingly pink?" It reminded him of cotton candy. Pretty, but really strange.

"He can see power flows and reiatsu when his eyes are like that." Renji said. Ichigo had trouble making out their expressions when his vision was like this, so he was guessing Byakuya had been looking pissed.

"I see. What do you see from the rip?" Byakuya was all business and Ichigo turned his attention to the rip in reality. It was disturbingly powerful.

"Well, it's scary." He carefully paced around it, trying to get a feel for it. "Oh yeah. Yeah, this is what I figured." He could see it now, see the glow of dark reishi. "I bet it closes in the day and opens every evening. It's being fed by the lake, there's a river of dark reishi flowing here. But why?" He mused, still walking around the rift. "It's not like real rivers, not at all, but the lake and the reishi have their own rules. So why?"

"You will have to tell us. I cannot see this river you are talking about." Byakuya said, and Ichigo wondered how much that bothered him, that a mere three year old plus soul could do what a shinigami couldn't. But then, it was the dark side of his nature that let him do this.

"It doesn't obey physical laws." Ichigo said, looking back towards the lake. The trail dipped and meandered much like a normal river, although he could only follow it so far. "It's like something is calling it here." He tried to examine the clearing again. "There must be something here." Then his breath caught as he understood what the swirling power was telling him. "The rocks! It's the rocks, something about the way they're arranged and what they're made of. They've created a perfect junction." He could see it, see that the rocks were pulling the power in even if he didn't entirely understand why. "Destroy the rocks and break the connection." It was all so simple. But he wasn't going to do it. They'd taken his sword away from him, not that it made a lot of difference. He was deadly with nothing but hands and feet. But he didn't want to start smashing boulders with his bare hands. Blinking back the vision of power flows, he looked at the others.

"Very well." Byakuya said, drawing his sword. Ichigo hesitated before deciding to leave it to him. He didn't have his sword and Byakuya was probably the most powerful person here anyway. He was also the one Ichigo liked the least, so he could take whatever backlash came from breaking the stones. Although he did deserve a warning.

"There might be a backlash. I don't know what form it will take." He warned and Byakuya nodded, unconcerned.

"A common issue." He said and Ichigo shook his head but held his peace. He didn't think there would be anything common about this. He could be wrong though.

Unfortunately, he wasn't. Ichigo could see the power fluctuating madly as Byakuya's sword easily shattered rock after rock. There wasn't a single thing he could do about it, though. Trying to handle that much reishi would burn him out. So he held his breath as the final rock was smashed and the power went mad. It spiked and coiled, twirling like a hurricane and Byakuya seemed frozen in place, his sword on the ground and grey eyes wide. Even through the cloud of power, Ichigo could see the will and frustration in those eyes.

"He can't move! RUN!" Ichigo shouted at the others and prayed they would obey as he ran towards Byakuya. As soon as he got close he discovered why the shinigami was frozen. The swirling of the reishi was like walking through glue. Ichigo widened his eyes and tried to find some kind of solution. He begrudged every second, but he did manage to slip between the currents long enough to grab hold of Byakuya's shoulder. And then the currents changed.

The gate abruptly became a vortex and it was Byakuya's sword that saved them both. Still buried in the stone, it held them in place for just long enough and even as it came free, Ichigo dug deep into his hollow nature and slammed a clawed hand into the stone. That held them in place long enough for Byakuya to drive his sword back into the ground, his other hand on Ichigo's arm in a death grip. Ichigo was vaguely aware that both his hands were clawed now and he was raising blood on the shinigami's shoulder, but he couldn't spare any time for it. Glancing at the gate he saw, to his horror, something that was not Hueco Mundo. His vision was refusing to report anything coherent, but something in the back of his mind was gibbering in terror at the sight.

_It is Hell._ Zangetsu supplied calmly and Ichigo gasped. He hadn't even been aware Hell was a real place!

"Hell?! ZANGETSU!" He screamed, trying desperately to pull them forwards as something reached out of the gate for them. But then the vortex began to wind down, and the gate began to close. Sensing imminent danger the arm retracted back into the gate. He and Byakuya looked back to watch as the darkness fade into a pinpoint and vanish. "I didn't think I was that bad when I was alive." He said in shock as Renji ran up. Ichigo was relieved to see he was alive and well. Apparently, he'd heeded the call to run, or at least found something to hold onto.

"Captain, are you alright? Ichigo, let go of him!" Ichigo blinked and hissed as he saw what he'd done. Byakuya blinked and winced as if he'd just noticed the pain. Biting his lip, Ichigo very carefully withdrew his claws from the lacerated flesh. Then he made the claws vanish and joined his power with Renji's, imparting a healing infusion.

"Sorry sorry sorry." He muttered, feeling horrible about it. He'd needed the claws to grip the stone, and he couldn't do just one hand, but it was still awful. Byakuya blinked at him slowly and Ichigo hoped he wasn't going into shock.

"There is no need to apologize. You saved my life." There was something oddly formal about his words, almost ceremonial. Ichigo scowled and tried to wave it away.

"You saved my life, too." He pointed out but Byakuya gave a slight shake of his head. "You did! If it had been just me I'd have been sucked in for certain."

"But you could have heeded your own advice and run." The shinigami pointed out calmly and Ichigo paused, stymied. He was right.

"That's not what I do." He finally said, meeting Byakuya's eyes. "You should know that. Why else would I protect a hollow from you?" It was just not his nature to turn aside. It was his nature to protect, to defend, just like his name. The shinigami nodded before standing and Ichigo winced to himself. There was no sign of it on his face but the hollow side of him could smell the pain and blood.

"Let us get some rest. We will go speak to your friends in the morning." He said and Ichigo could only nod. He was completely done in. He wouldn't be surprised if his eyes were going back to normal despite the nighttime reiatsu.

Maybe things would be better in the morning.

* * *

Not all the shinigami went down to the lake the next day. There was no need, and the crags and hollows of the pass had plenty of Hollows that needed to be cleaned out. Ichigo didn't particularly care one way or the other about that, but if people were going to go through that pass even semi-regularly it would be better if the Hollows were gone. After last night's episode only the stupid would be hanging around anyway. So he confidently led Renji, Byakuya and two other young shinigami to the lake.

"Hey Ichigo! Way of Destruction One: Stinging Bee!" Ichigo heard a loud, high pitched voice yell and his eyes widened just as the power hit him directly between the eyes. It knocked him flat on his ass and he yelped, slapping a hand over his forehead.

"Danica!" Renji roared and the little girl squealed as he picked her up by her smock. "How many times do I have to tell you, that is not a fucking toy and you do not shoot people in the face with it! Now apologize to Ichigo!" Suddenly something small and obnoxious was shoved in his face.

"Sorry!" She said with a grin, like it had all been a lovely prank. And something inside Ichigo snapped.

"Apology not accepted." He snarled and she looked bewildered, then yelped as he grabbed her. "You're going for a swim brat!"

"Noooooo!" She yowled as he carried her down to the lake, winded up and gave her a good throw right in. She went in deep and came up spluttering. Like all the children, she knew how to swim. "MAMA!" She got out of the lake and ran off sobbing. Ichigo watched her go with a grim satisfaction. Then he looked up as Byakuya cleared his throat.

"Are you going to be dealing with an upset mother?" The shinigami asked and Ichigo almost thought there was something like humor in his eyes.

"No. She's actually a plus soul, can't even remember her real family. And if she's been zapping as many people with that as I bet she has, she's not going to get even a whiff of sympathy." Ichigo rubbed his forehead. "I'm going to get a blister. Brat."

"Hm." Byakuya turned slightly and Ichigo followed his gaze. Richard and Matty were both heading towards them. "So these would be the leaders of your group?"

"Actually, Ichigo is more or less our leader." Richard had been close enough to hear the question, and gave the answer. Byakuya's expression didn't change but Ichigo had a distinct feeling he was less than impressed with the thought. "However, we do tend to make large decisions together. I'm Richard Dupres and this is Matty Gerwald." They both attempted to bow, Richard's being the more successful of the two.

"I am Byakuya Kuchiki. Is there a private place we can speak?" He glanced over the group, who were clearly doing their level best to eavesdrop. And the children were just a nuisance, even if Danica was temporarily cowed.

"Certainly. We have a meeting place." That was the clearing in the woods. It wasn't meant for that many people, of course. But Renji and the two extra shinigami stayed standing. Ichigo accepted a flask of water from Richard, which did wonders for his budding headache. He let Richard handle most of the negotiations. Diplomacy wasn't his strong point anyway.

"When you said that Ichigo is more or less your leader, what precisely do you mean?" Ichigo sighed to himself as Byakuya asked that question. He was clearly trying to figure out how their internal dynamics worked, but it was a bit embarrassing.

"I'm the kick ass, take no prisoners kind of leader." Ichigo answered before Richard or Matty could. "I'm also the last word on anything medical. Richard and Matty handle all the stuff that makes me want to hit someone with a rock, repeatedly." He simply had no patience with petty crap, and knew it. Richard and Matty were a thousand times better at dealing with that kind of thing.

"That's essentially it." Richard said, amused. "A group this size doesn't require much, but there are sometimes social issues that need addressing. Because Ichigo's duties include most of the things that could kill us, we do tend to defer to his judgment on many things."

"I see." Byakuya said. Ichigo wasn't sure he really did, but he didn't much care. His mind was wandering to how nice Renji looked and the desire to pull the bandanna out of his hair and run his fingers through the soft strands. Renji noticed him looking and gave him a quick grin. The young man regretfully pulled his attention away as the negotiations began.

It didn't go badly. It was finally decided that an observation post would be placed in the mountains, and a research post on the other side of the lake. The shinigami agreed not to attack the Hollows unless they were attacked first, and Ichigo hoped the Adjuchas would have the sense to cut her losses. But if she didn't, well, life was hard sometimes. Some of the gold would be gathered and sold and in return, the group would get things they desperately needed like new clothing and metal knives. They would also be made wards of the Kuchiki clan, which meant Byakuya and his family would be personally responsible for their welfare. Unfortunately, that was where things hit a snag.

"There is one thing I must ask for in return. Ichigo." Byakuya waited until he was certain he'd recaptured the boy's wandering attention. Ichigo blinked at him, confused. "You will come with me to the Kuchiki manor."

"Eh what now?" Ichigo sat bolt upright, shocked to attention. "But who will handle the medical stuff and protecting the group?"

"We can handle all that, Ichigo." Byakuya said as Richard and Matty both looked less than thrilled with the idea. They bent their heads together, whispering. "I must insist on this. You are too strong and dangerous to be running around completely untrained. You will need personal attention from a strong mentor."

_He is right. Right now, you are a menace._ Zangetsu chimed in and Ichigo hissed at him.

"I've managed just fine for years before you even showed up! Stuff it!" He said in an undertone before looking at Byakuya. "I'm personally involved so I don't get a vote. What do you guys say?" He turned to Richard and Matty.

"We're not very happy about this." Richard said slowly. "Ichigo is our strongest member. But you do have a point about his lack of training. Perhaps you can get him some psychiatric help as well." Ichigo couldn't help but flush as Renji burst into guffaws.

"Thanks old man!" He snarled then yelped as something attached itself to his back.

"I'm coming too! I want to go!" An all too familiar voice announced as Ichigo tried to pry Danica away. Not even being tossed into a glacial lake could keep her down for long and she started to climb up his back as he attempted to grab her.

"No fucking way! The best thing about leaving this place would be getting away from YOU!" Ichigo snarled, then yelped. "Stop that!" She had an elbow planted in his head and was giggling as she jammed it in. "You want another swim brat?"

"Nooo!" She popped off his back and ran behind Byakuya, who grabbed her with one hand.

"Hm. Perhaps… show me your kido again, child." He ordered and Danica was more than happy to oblige.

"Not at his FACE – oh." Ichigo stopped as Byakuya caught the little spark in one hand, studying it for a moment. "How did you do that?" If he'd known how to do that, he wouldn't have a burn and a bit of a headache right now. Byakuya gave him a glance.

"That is why you need training. And I think this one does, as well. Very well, she will come with you." He said with the faintest of smiles and Ichigo made a small choking sound before dropping his head into his hands.

"I must have been really bad in a past life – AWK!" Danica rammed into his chest, feet first, knocking him off the seat. "Get off me brat!"

"We're going away! We're going to have so much fun!" She caroled and Ichigo could only groan.

What had he done to deserve this?

* * *

Two days later.

Ichigo sat by the fire, feeling great but desperately in need of something. It wasn't hard to figure out what he needed, either. Not with Renji sitting beside him and looking really toothsome in the firelight. The problem, of course, was the lack of privacy.

"Hey Renji, I was wondering. Want to go scout for squirrels?" He asked in as insinuating a voice as he could muster. Apparently it wasn't good enough because Renji gave him a confused look.

"Squirrels? Why would we scout for squirrels?" He asked, taking a drink of his sake. Ichigo sighed to himself. Anyone back home would have understood what he was on about.

"Oh, you know, they can be pretty vicious, cracking nuts like that." He said vaguely. "Imagine if they happened into camp and helped themselves?"

"But we don't have any nuts." Renji pointed out and Ichigo's eyes narrowed. He'd caught just a hint of a grin this time. Renji was playing with him!

"Well, if you're going to be so fucking thick – hey Byakuya!" The captain looked up, slightly offended by the yell. "Would you like to go scout for squirrels?"

"Hey! You can't do that!" Renji's hands were suddenly in his shirt, lifting him off the ground as the redhead yelled in his face. "That's just wrong, and he's Captain Byakuya to you!" Ichigo lifted his eyebrows and gave Renji a deliberately insolent look.

"Oh? Why can't I if you're going to be thick as a plank – mph!" A kiss silenced him and Ichigo was vaguely aware that they had the attention of everyone, but he didn't much care as he gripped Renji's shirt and yanked it down, exposing one pale shoulder. Then he hooked a leg over the other man's waist, pulling himself up and as the kiss ended, he transferred his attention to that warm skin. "Oh yeah." He muttered as Renji growled. "Squirrels?" He tried to remind the shinigami. He had no shame, really, but they'd probably get interrupted if they stayed.

"I'll find some squirrels for you, you freak!" Renji was dragging him away then and Ichigo grinned as he got his feet under him and followed. He liked it when Renji was all fired up. It would be hot and heavy tonight, but he was determined to get the better of the shinigami for once.

"Captain, what… was that?" One of the other shinigami asked hesitantly as Byakuya sipped his tea.

"I think we would all rather not know." He said quietly as he felt a flare of reiatsu. The boy had no control whatsoever. A moment later there was a matching flare from Renji, but he had no doubt whatsoever that they were not fighting. Or at least, not using their swords.

He was quite correct in that. It had happened very quickly this time, and Ichigo had Renji pinned to a tree, face first.

"Dammit Ichigo, I want to top you!" Renji complained as he squirmed but then groaned as a hot tongue explored his throat.

"You did that the last three times. It's my turn now, and I'm not letting you have it." Ichigo deliberately increased his spiritual pressure, holding the other man in place. Renji's reiatsu flared as he tried to overcome it, but no one could hold out against the full force of Ichigo's dreadful personality. "Take it like a man." He teased, undoing Renji's pants. These shinigami clothes were really much easier to handle than jeans, although they were less comfortable.

"Fuck you – oh…" Renji groaned as warm fingers fondled him and Ichigo breathed in his ear. The kid had learned most of his pleasure points, and he was using them all now. "Dammit, that's good." He gasped as warm fingers wrapped around his length. Renji turned his head and Ichigo caught him in a kiss, their tongues dancing together for a moment.

"It gets better, take it from me." Ichigo said with a grin before gently exploring his opening. Renji winced at the feeling and tried to relax. It wasn't the first time he'd done it like this, but it wasn't what he generally preferred. And it always felt strange as hell right at first. But Ichigo knew what he was doing, and Renji was reminded that his father was a doctor as the boy found his prostate and gave him a gentle stroke. It sent a jolt of pleasure to his groin and he jerked, moaning softly as the harsh bark of the tree bit into his hands. Then another followed the first, and another, until he was sweating and flushed with the pleasure of it.

"Dammit Ichigo, stop teasing me!" He panted as the kid chuckled, pulling away his hand. Then something much larger began forcing him open and he shuddered as he gripped the tree. "Ah!"

"Yeah…" Ichigo groaned, quickly losing himself to the feeling of taunt, strong muscles around him. It felt glorious but he took it slow, making sure Renji was feeling nothing but pleasure before he speeded his pace. "Renji, you are so fucking wonderful." He muttered in the other man's ear, and was answered by nothing but an incoherent moan. It wasn't quite as intense as his dreams, maybe, but it was infinitely more real and Ichigo let himself lose control, let his reiatsu flare with abandon as he pounded into Renji like the animal he secretly was.

"Oh!" Renji gasped, arching in pleasure as Ichigo kept finding that spot inside him. A war hand was around his length, too, pumping him in time with every stroke. It felt like heaven, and the feel of Ichigo's reiatsu was dark and full of passion. It was as inflaming as the hot flesh inside him. "Dammit Ichigo – ah!" He gasped as Ichigo assaulted his throat again. The kid seemed to have a fixation on that spot…

"You want more?" Ichigo said, his echoing voice sending a thrill up Renji's spine. Just to tease him, the thrusts slowed and Renji whimpered at the loss of feeling.

"Yes, dammit, yes!" There was a dark chuckle and the pace increased again, coming faster and harder. Renji felt it when Ichigo completely lost control, his reiatsu exploding around them like it had the first time in the lake. The trees stayed upright but the leaves and branches blew away as if there was a great wind and Renji howled like a wolf as his own release hit. Ichigo's hand milked him for every drop, and Renji gasped as he felt the boy fill him with his seed. They stayed that way for a moment, exhausted, and Ichigo finally pulled away.

"Mmm. Think they felt us find the squirrel?" He murmured into Renji's ear, making the shinigami chuckle weakly.

"If they didn't, they've all been struck blind. C'mon, let's get back." Normally he would have been ashamed to show his face to the Division after something that powerful and public. Right now, he didn't give a damn.

It seemed Ichigo's attitude was rubbing off.

* * *

"What did we do to deserve this, nii-san?" To say that Rukia was unimpressed by her new brother was an understatement. Byakuya regarded her a moment, then looked out at the training. One of his guardsmen was trying to get Ichigo to perform a slightly more advanced kido. So far, it had exploded three times and the boy was starting to smell like sulpher.

'Brother' was not quite the right word for Ichigo, but Byakuya thought it eventually would be. Making Ichigo a ward of the clan and bringing him to the manor was an obvious prelude to adoption. They might never take that final step, but if Ichigo proved to be as powerful as Byakuya suspected, they might. And his words aside, Byakuya knew he owed the man a life debt. If he had run, Renji might have tried to save him but he'd seen how Ichigo had suddenly speeded up to reach him in time. He didn't know how the man had done it, but he doubted Renji would have had the same success.

"Are you referring to Ichigo or the child?" He asked, glancing around to see if Danica was anywhere nearby. The child had a positive genius for causing trouble but lately, she had been missing half the time. At first he'd been concerned but then, to his amusement, Byakuya had run into Kenpachi with a child on either shoulder. Apparently, Danica had befriended Yachiru and they were having a great time causing trouble together.

"I was talking about Ichigo." She said and he frowned, looking at her. For some reason Rukia did not like Ichigo. As far as he could tell, the boy had been no more impolite to her than anyone else. Perhaps it had been a mistake to ask Rukia to teach him etiquette. That had probably been a frustrating experience for them both. "Why does he have to stay here, nii-san? He has no appreciation for what he has here."

"He came from a beautiful place, Rukia." He answered, remembering the caldera. The scientists of the 12th were in rhapsodies over the place. Until now, there had never been any sign of a volcano in Soul Society. They thought that was the reason the lake teemed with reishi. What would a volcano spew forth, in a land that was made of reishi? More reishi, of course. "Eventually it may become a vacation spot." He could very well see that happening. Of course, they would have to safeguard the group already living there. Perhaps the land could be deeded to them and the children formed into a minor noble house. But that was a plan far for the future. "Why should he appreciate leaving such a home? But it is for the best. His powers must be tamed." As if to punctuate his point, Ichigo succeeded in the kido. What should have been a level 3 way of destruction erupted in glorious sparks, feeling more like a level fifty kido before it impacted the target. Byakuya pursed his lips. Taking a simple kido and infusing it with more power was something a skilled practitioner could do, but it should have been impossible for someone as inept as Ichigo. But then, Ichigo wasn't doing it on purpose. Once he could reliably use the kidos, they would have to teach him how to tone it down.

"I suppose." Rukia sighed then straightened her shoulders. "Well, it's almost time for his lesson with me. I will not fail you, nii-san." She sounded resolute and determined. Byakuya approved, and decided against finding a new etiquette teacher for Ichigo. Rukia would not let her personal feelings get in the way of her duty.

"I'm sure he will learn in no time." He said encouragingly before looking back into the garden. Ichigo was doing a victory dance, complete with obscene gestures. "Or perhaps not." He added under his breath as he left.

Rukia had her work cut out for her.


	5. The World is Collapsing

Ichigo considered the ornamental tea service with mild dismay.

He remembered one of his history teachers saying that the upper classes started out pretty much he same as the peons, but then started doing things in a different or more complicated manner to separate themselves from the common herd. In his opinion, this intricate tea ceremony was a perfect example of the phenomenon.

But he was trying to learn, so it was time to cooperate. Ichigo served the tea and scattered the petals into it, offering Rukia the sugar bowl, which she turned down. Then he sipped his tea, looking thoughtfully into the golden liquid. It was green tea, of course. He actually preferred earl grey, with plenty of cream and sugar, but that was not considered acceptable for this sort of thing.

"Ichigo, you're forgetting something." Rukia sounded annoyed, as she usually did, and Ichigo frowned. He didn't mind the dark haired woman at all, but he could tell she didn't like him. He had no idea why and didn't really care, so outside of lessons he just tried to avoid her as much as possible. She seemed to be doing the same, so they didn't cross paths much.

"Um…" He looked over the tea service, trying to determine what he'd left out. It was actually rather obvious. "Would you like a sandwich, dear lady?" He offered her the tray and Rukia took one with a false smile.

"Thank you, dear sir." She mimicked his words with a touch of venom and Ichigo felt his eyes narrowing. Taking a deep breath he attempted to lighten the mood, taking half a cucumber sandwich and eating it whole. "Ichigo!"

"Mrph. Hey, I'm hungry." He said after a few chews and a swallow. She looked like she wanted to throw the tea at him. "When will Renji be coming by? Do you have any idea?" Ichigo asked wistfully. He was really missing his adorable redhead.

"He has duties in the living world." She said sharply and Ichigo abruptly paused. Living world?

"You guys go into the living world? Spirits can do that?" He said, awed, and she looked at him like he was a pure imbecile. Right now he didn't care a bit. "I-I only died three years ago. My family, I'd like to see them…" Tears sprang up in his eyes and Ichigo blinked, trying to hold them back. But he'd been worried about them. He knew they would all have taken his death hard, especially his dad. Rukia's expression softened slightly.

"You could ask Byakuya. Normally we would never take a plus soul into the living world for that." She hesitated a moment. "You do understand they won't be able to see you?" She asked gently and Ichigo nodded.

"Yeah, I get that. It's probably better that way, if they could see me they'd want me to stay. I just want to know that they're okay." That was simply the truth. Ichigo had completely lost any interest in living in the real world. This was his home now, and there was no going back. But he still loved his family and wanted to know that they were making it without him. "I'll ask Byakuya next time I see him." He said positively and Rukia scowled.

"That's Lord Byakuya. Show respect!" She snapped and Ichigo sighed to himself. Clearly they were back to hating each other. The lesson was pretty much over, though, and he was soon able to escape. His next lesson was with kido.

It went much better than any of his earlier lessons, and Ichigo was very pleased. He'd managed to fire off a level ten kido, which was a huge improvement. It lacked the oomph of his earlier efforts, but his instructor praised it nonetheless. In fact, maybe that had been the problem. Had he been forcing too much power into the kido? Maybe, or maybe he was just getting closer to Zangetsu and the shinigami side of his power.

_Mmm._ Ichigo blinked and made a soft, questioning sound. Zangetsu sounded and felt completely unenthusiastic. That was very strange.

"What, you don't think we're getting closer?" Ichigo asked. He thought they were. He was sparring with Zangetsu all the time now, and he hadn't had one of his dreams in a while. Admittedly, he didn't like that part much. He deeply enjoyed the hollow side of his nature and didn't want to be parted from it. But surely Zangetsu would approve?

_We are getting closer, but it is strange. You are… different._ Zangetsu sounded calm as always but Ichigo thought he caught a disturbed edge to the thought. _I do not know if this is a good thing._ Ichigo thought about it for a moment then shrugged.

"We'll just have to find out, eh? I'd really like to see Renji though." He thought wistfully about the sex for a moment. He didn't really know Renji all that well yet, but he wanted that sex like no one's business. And from what little he knew, Ichigo thought that Renji was a great guy and they were probably really compatible. The question was, was Renji that into him? "Well, I won't know until he gets back." He muttered to himself. That might take a while.

As it happened, it took about a week. By the end of that week, Ichigo wasn't feeling good at all and his kido's were failing from lack of power rather than too much. He also wasn't thinking much about sex. It was hard to think about sex when you were struggling to get out of bed every day.

_You should go see a healer, Ichigo. There is something wrong._ Zangetsu sounded genuinely worried now. Ichigo scowled and rubbed his forehead, blinking several times in an effort to stay awake.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll do that right now." He was just so damn tired. He got lost and almost ran right into Renji without even seeing him. Then he blinked as a big, warm hand gripped his shoulder.

"Ichigo! Hey, you look like shit." Ichigo smiled briefly but he could see the shock in Renji's eyes. Did he really look that bad? Then he blinked as his long neglected hollow senses reared up and informed him of something that made his lip curl. "What's wrong?"

"…Nothing." He didn't have the energy to give Renji the ass kicking he deserved. Or maybe not, it wasn't like they'd agreed to be exclusive yet. But he could smell another person on him, and his hollow side was damned certain it hadn't just been from sparring. He'd deal with that some other time. "Can you show me to the infirmary? Zangetsu says I should go." Although he'd figured it out himself. He was sleeping a solid twelve hours a night yet waking up exhausted, that simply couldn't be normal. Renji nodded, looking concerned.

"Sure, I know the way." Renji talked a bit on the walk and Ichigo tried to listen, but it was hard. Part of him wanted to be pissed as hell but just couldn't find the energy for it, and part of him was hurt. The third, rational part that sounded like Zangetsu kept reminding him they'd never worked out any ground rules. How was Renji to know he was a jealous bastard? How was he to know that the hollow part of Ichigo was inclined to kill anyone who touched his mate?

When they reached the infirmary, Ichigo lay down on a bed and let one of the healers look him over without complaint. They checked him over quickly and found nothing at all alarming.

"His reiatsu is very low, but it's nothing to be concerned about. He's probably just been training hard. Food and sleep should help." Ichigo stirred at that and frowned, propping himself up on one elbow.

"I've been sleeping all day and all night. How can more sleep help me?" He asked, feeling irritated. That was the most useless recommendation he'd ever heard. The healer blinked and frowned at him.

"That could be a form of insomnia. I do have something for that." He went into a back room and came back with several herbal powders sealed in red pouches. "These should compress your sleep back into a normal time. This pouch is herbal tea, take the others mixed with it. A tablespoon with a single cup of tea before you go to bed." Ichigo accepted them, a bit bemused and hopeful. This made a great deal more sense. If he wasn't reaching stage three sleep, perhaps that could explain why his reiatsu was so low and why he felt so bad. It was a sensible diagnosis.

"Let me help you back to your room." Renji offered and Ichigo had to hold back a hot retort. He wasn't an invalid! Still, it felt nice to have the redheaded shinigami there. "I was hoping we could… but I can see you're not up for it." He said and Ichigo grimaced. He wanted to give Renji the kind of sex that would make him completely forget his other friend. But right now, it was simply not happening. If he tried, the sex would suck and that would make the opposite point.

"I wish I could. I was dreaming about you so much a week ago." Ichigo admitted, turning his head to meet Renji's beautiful brown eyes. "I missed you. Rukia sent you went to the Living world?" He hadn't gotten a chance to ask Byakuya about taking him there, and now wouldn't be a good time anyway. "Anything interesting happen?" He wanted to hear about it, though.

"Well, I went to Karakura town and there was this Hollow…" Renji began describing the work he'd been doing and Ichigo tried very hard to concentrate on his words. He really wanted to hear these things. Why was it so hard to concentrate?

Hopefully the powders would help.

* * *

_Zangetsu stood on the side of a building, looking around in concern. For the past week, Ichigo's inner world had been raining off and on, but that did not concern him. He hated the rain but what was happening now was far more alarming._

_The sun had changed. Instead of the illumination of natural daylight, the sun had become cold and harsh, illuminating everything with a paler light. There was no warmth now, and when the rain started again it was not rain, it was snow. Zangetsu held out a hand to catch the flakes and realized that while he disliked rain, he disliked snow even more._

_**Ha!** Zangetsu turned and easily parried the slow and clumsy strike, although his own movements were not swift. A white face grinned at him._

"_I see you have begun to separate again." That was no surprise. Without Ichigo's embracing his hollow side, it would naturally begin to regain independence._

_**Yeah, that whore hasn't been by for a while. I should – hey, what's going on here?**_ _The Hollow Ichigo suddenly noticed the state of the inner world. __**Why is that building looking like that?**__ He pointed and Zangetsu followed the finger to see a building that appeared to be on the verge of collapse. That was not unusual when Ichigo had a status change, since the buildings representing things important to him and such things could change. But right now, it was alarming._

"_I don't know, but I believe Ichigo may be dying." He was trying to tell the boy that, but Ichigo had stopped hearing him. There was not enough reiatsu in him now to make contact with his zanpakuto._

_**What? Bullshit! I'll take over here if he's too much of a pussy to defend himself!** Zangetsu's eye twitched in irritation. The hollow was every bit as weak as Kurosaki himself and he hadn't even noticed._

"_You cannot. You are dying as well." As the hollow gaped at him, Zangetsu launched an attack. It was weak and slow but the hollow barely parried it and he had the satisfaction of seeing those black and gold eyes widen._

_**It's like there's no reiatsu here! What's going on?** He complained as he leapt back and stumbled. **It's never been like this, even before he started drinking from the lake!** Zangetsu's eyes widened and hollow eyes met brown for a moment as the two of them stood in stunned realization. **Oh fuck. You don't think?**_

"_You have been here longer than me." Zangetsu admitted. He'd always been somewhat present, of course, but until Renji's training had triggered it he'd had no real consciousness. "Do you think so?"_

_**His spiritual pressure increased like WOAH as soon as he started drinking from that thing, so I do think! But what can we do? He'll never get back there in time!** The hollow was deeply upset now, and it was easy to understand why. Survival was always the deepest instinct. **What do we do?**_

"_Ichigo cannot even hear us now, so there is nothing we can do." Zangetsu watched as the building below let go and began a slow collapse. "We can only hope."_

_**Fuck!** The hollow sat down and started mumbling. **I at least want to have sex with the little whore one last time… **Zangetsu grimaced and tried to tune him out._

_If they were all going to die, he wished the company were a bit better._

* * *

"Ichigo, stop being a sullen brat!" Rukia snapped. To say she was irritated was an understatement. Ichigo hadn't being paying any attention to her lessons for days, but now he was taking it to an absurd degree. He had arrived late, seated himself and proceeded to stare into his tea and answer her with single syllables, when he answered at all.

"Ichigo!" Rukia looked up with a frown as Danica burst into the gardens. She had as little respect for formality as Ichigo, but with the excuse that she was a child. "Hey Ichigo!" She ran over and hugged him energetically. Ichigo hardly blinked at the sudden burden. "Ichigo?" Danica pulled back her head to look into his face. "You sick?"

"He's not sick, he's just being sullen." Rukia said sharply. "Ichigo, say hello to her!" Ichigo blinked slowly as if he was trying to decipher her words.

"Hello." He finally said and Rukia gritted her teeth at the weariness in his voice. Why was he alarming the child like this?

"He's sick Rukia! Ichigo's sick!" Danica sounded scared now. "Where's Byakuya? Ichigo's sick!"

"Danica, he's not sick." She tried to reassure the girl. "The healers have looked him over three times. He's not sick." She'd checked with them after the last time and they said there was nothing wrong, just low reiatsu. The cure for that was food and rest. Danica's eyes started to fill with tears and her lower lip wobbled.

"The healers are stupid! He doesn't even feel like Ichigo! Way of Destruction One: Stinging Bee!" She fired the little kido before Rukia could stop her and it hit Ichigo in the shoulder. Rukia felt a chill as she saw no reaction at all. It was as if Ichigo didn't even feel the pain. "He should be yelling at me and throwing me in the pond! He's sick, he's really sick!"

"You… may be right. Ichigo, wait here." She told the boy, and Ichigo raised his eyes for a moment, meeting hers. She was struck by how lifeless his looked. "Stay here." She repeated before looking at Danica. "I think nii-san is in his office." She was right about that. Byakuya looked up in surprise as a little girl burst into his office, shot around the desk and began tugging on his arm. He quickly raised his pen, saving his report from a random scrawl.

"Nii-san! Ichigo is sick, really sick, you need to come!" Byakuya frowned at the girl. He hadn't given her permission to address him that way, but then the rest of her words reached him. His frown deepened. He'd been aware of the problems Ichigo was having, since the healers reported to him, but he'd been under the impression they were minor. He looked up at Rukia, who was standing in the doorway looking both frustrated and disturbed.

"Rukia, what has happened?" He asked and Rukia bit her lip before answering.

"I thought he was just being a sullen child, but… Danica used her way of destruction on him, hitting him in the shoulder, and he didn't do anything brother. He didn't even rub the burn." Rukia couldn't help the anxiety in her voice. "I know the healers say he's fine, but Danica knows him better than we do and she says he doesn't even feel like Ichigo."

"Yeah!" Danica piped up. "He doesn't feel as strong as me! He feels like he's not there!" Byakuya frowned and put down his pen, standing up.

"I will see to him." Ichigo was a ward of the clan, so it was his duty. And it would be very poor recompense for the life debt, if he let the boy die. Although it couldn't be anywhere near that serious. "Both of you remain here." He wanted to see Ichigo himself, without any other distractions. Danica tried to follow but Rukia restrained her. When Byakuya reached the classroom, Ichigo was in exactly the same position as when Rukia left. He was staring into his cooling tea and didn't look up as Byakuya settled on the cushion across from him.

Byakuya frowned as he tried to sense the boy's reiatsu. Danica was right, it felt like he wasn't even there. If Byakuya hadn't known he was there, he would never have sensed it. Given how terrible Ichigo was at controlling his reiatsu normally, this could not be a marvelous display of shielding.

"Ichigo, you are worrying everyone. What is wrong?" He asked, as gently as he could. Ichigo did not even raise his eyes. "Ichigo, look at me." It took several seconds for the boy to respond but he finally lifted his head. Brown eyes fixed on grey and Byakuya shivered at the blankness in them. It reminded him of something. But what? It took him a few moments but then he remembered. Once, Renji had taken a bad head injury. The effects had lingered for days, and it had been very frustrating because one moment he would seem to be fine and the next, his gaze would take on a strange vacantness. Byakuya had learned that when he looked like that, he was hearing the words, and understanding the words, but couldn't make the final jump to _comprehending _the words. Fortunately he'd recovered fully after three days. "Ichigo. Do you understand what I am saying?" Nothing. Byakuya spoke very slowly, clearly enunciating each word. "Do you understand?" It took two more repetitions before a spark of life showed in Ichigo's eyes.

"…No." The boy said softly and Byakuya watched in horror as a single tear slid down one cheek. Ichigo put his face in his hands then, and his shoulders moved as though he was sobbing, but there was no sound. Then his gaze fell on Ichigo's zanpakuto. The sword was propped in the corner of the room. It required a high level kido and it was normally considered a violation, but perhaps the spirit within could tell him what was wrong. Ichigo certainly couldn't. Byakuya took a breath and walked over to the zanpakuto, grasping the hilt.

He expected to spend many minutes, possibly even hours, coaxing the zanpakuto to speak to him. They were usually standoffish with anyone but their bonded owner. He wasn't expecting Zangetsu to practically slap him in the face with fear and desperation.

_The buildings are collapsing and he is too weak to hear us. He will die soon. You must do something!_ Byakuya's eyes widened at the faint, weak voice of the zanpakuto. Zangetsu sounded almost as weak as Ichigo felt. Then he heard another voice, even fainter.

_**There goes another one! Fuck!**_And he heard the faintest sound of breaking glass. Ignoring that, he began to question the zanpakuto.

"What is wrong with him? What can I do?" He asked and could feel the spirit's despair.

_We believe he is suffering a withdrawal from the lake waters. We only figured it out a few days ago, and Ichigo was too far gone to hear. We do not know how it can be repaired. The lake is too far, he will never survive the trip back._ Byakuya's breath caught at the thought.

"But Danica is showing no signs of any problems." And she had surely been drinking the lake water as often as Ichigo.

_Danica is a child, and Ichigo is unique. He was a spiritually powerful plus when he arrived, but his power increased a hundredfold when he drank from the lake. How else could he have fought you, with no training and nothing but brute force?_ Zangetsu said and Byakuya nodded. The zanpakuto had a point. Then that fainter voice spoke again.

_**I've been around longer than you, I can tell ya none of the others increased like he did. Maybe he was better adapted to the reishi.**_

"Reishi." Byakuya muttered. He couldn't infuse reishi into water, that was a natural miracle of the lake. But… "I can summon reishi for him." If Ichigo was sensitive to reishi, perhaps he could absorb it in a new form. He felt a flicker of hope from the zanpakuto.

_It is worth a try. Hurry, you do not have much longer._ Byakuya nodded and set back the zanpakuto. If Ichigo's inner world was collapsing, and it sounded like it was, he was definitely out of time. But this needed to be done outside.

"Ichigo… no, I will carry you." Byakuya pulled the boy to his feet and then lifted him, bridal style. It was surprisingly easy. In addition to his spiritual issues, Ichigo had lost weight. He carried the boy out into the gardens, ignoring the slightly odd looks his guards gave him. There was no time to worry about appearances.

Byakuya gently set Ichigo down, then kneeled on the grass behind him, pulling the boy up and putting an arm over his chest. Ichigo felt like a rag doll, completely unresisting and unresponsive. Then Byakuya closed his eyes and began to meditate.

Calling the reishi was similar to communing with a zanpakuto. It required patience and perseverance. So Byakuya ignored the warmth of the body close to his, and how delicate he felt, how light and breakable. He focused his attention on the reishi, reaching out and inviting it to come. At first the flow was slow, which was normal. But then the reishi touched Ichigo, and vanished instantly, like water being gulped up by the parched earth. The boy stirred and suddenly Byakuya found he was unneeded. The reishi began to flow like a river, then a torrent, as the vacant place in Ichigo's soul called it to him, demanding to be filled.

"Oh…!" Ichigo moaned, arching in a way that accidentally rubbed his body against Byakuya's. "That's… yes…" Byakuya swallowed at that and controlled himself sternly. The boy wasn't trying to seduce him, the sudden sexual tension was a pure accident. They were surrounded by a corona of blue light now, as more reishi than Byakuya had ever seen in his life surrounded them. Where was it all coming from? Not all of it was positive, a great deal of it felt like the lake at night. Was Ichigo pulling it from the very fabric of Soul Society? It was beautiful beyond words, and Byakuya allowed himself to be lost in the beauty as Ichigo took what he needed. Finally the reishi began to disperse and the redheaded boy in his arms stirred.

"What was that? What the hell happened?" Ichigo glanced around then, confused. "When did I get here… why are you holding me?" He sounded very confused and Byakuya couldn't help but smile a bit. He also felt like Ichigo, although his reiatsu was still a bit low. He would probably need to absorb reishi several more times before he would be well again. "We weren't scouting for squirrels, were we?" He asked and Byakuya shook his head.

"No, we were not." He said repressively. "What is the last thing you remember?" From the way Ichigo was acting, he had lost time. The boy thought for a moment, frowning.

"I remember Renji coming to see me. After that, it all gets hazy. Why, what happened?" Ichigo asked and Byakuya nodded. It was as he had expected.

"I will explain." He would also need to teach Ichigo how to summon the reishi. It seemed that they were required for his survival, now. Then he would have to go to the 4th Division and see if there had ever been a similar case to this. And he spared a moment of thankfulness that Renji had not been this affected, although perhaps he should send his lieutenant over to the 4th for a checkup.

Renji would not be pleased, but that was too bad.


	6. Taming the Beast

Ichigo stretched out on the grass of the lawn, enjoying the summer sun.

Byakuya and Renji were both gone, doing whatever they did. Rukia had gone with them, and her latest set of lessons – dancing – were now being taught by a rather charming young man. He was getting his lessons in kido and also plenty of practice in fighting. His devil may care style was evolving into something that could actually be called a fighting style, rather than random insanity.

_**Just don't lose the random insanity, King. That's a tactic too.**_ Ichigo chuckled at his hollow's voice.

"Oh, there's no danger of that." Ichigo had learned early on that being completely unpredictable could really fuck an enemy up. And by now, he was very good at it. He'd almost managed to nail his instructor yesterday with a tree. Fortunately, they hadn't been practicing in the manor grounds or the gardeners would have killed them both. "Mmm." But then his thoughts turned from combat to something more interesting.

It had only been three days since his near death episode, but Ichigo was already feeling much, much better. Better enough that he was sick and tired of his lover neglecting him. But Renji did have duties, which meant the only logical thing was for Ichigo to go to the Seireitei. And why not? Byakuya would be there and could surely arrange teachers for him.

_**I don't know why you want to be around that pussy. He sure as fuck couldn't beat you in a fair fight, why would you want him? Now that one with the spiky hair, he would be a worthy sire. Just imagine him pounding the hell out of you, whore.**_ Ichigo rolled his eyes. That seemed to be his hollows' favourite term for him these days, and it was always accompanied with flickers of memory of all the times they had mated. Then he suddenly realized who the hollow was referring to and his eyes widened in horror.

"Zaraki Kenpachi? Are you out of your _mind?_ Haven't you seen how big he is? He would kill me!" He exclaimed and winced as he felt the Hollow's ire.

_**Then you deserve to die you weak-ass motherfucker!**_ He snarled and Ichigo sighed before laughing. It was either laugh or cry, and he wasn't much into crying.

_I somewhat agree. Renji is only adequate._ Ichigo's eyes widened as Zangetsu spoke. He hadn't expected this from the quiet and somber zanpakuto. _But I don't think Zaraki would be a good match in the long run, although I expect you could have fun in the short term. Byakuya seems far more suitable._

"Bya… you're all insane! Why would Byakuya want me?" He demanded. Byakuya was an elegant noble and about ten times as handsome as he was. He could have anyone he wanted, why would he want a savage kid with more power than sense?

_**Because you have vast tantric sexual powers, duh.**_

_Because you are… you._ Ichigo growled at them both and pulled himself to his feet. Strangling his internal spirits had never been so tempting. Although he was going to have a go at putting at least one of them to sleep tonight.

His inner Hollow was resisting reunification. He needed to have sex with it to start the process, but his embarrassment was interfering. _Everyone_ was going to be able to hear him. It had been embarrassing as all hell, but he'd finally asked his kido instructor if there was such a thing as a comfortable gag with silencing kido on it. He given the man a highly edited explanation to why he needed one, and he'd just gotten it this morning. Tonight, he was going to try it out.

_**Ha! I'm going to make you flare reiatsu like a bitch in heat. We'll see who doesn't notice!**_ Ichigo grimaced and shook his head.

"Well, I can't stop you. But I am damned well going to put you back in your place." He said firmly. He wasn't quite the same when his hollow side was like this, and he didn't like it. His hollow contained his craziness, his love of fighting and his carnal instincts. He still had them even when the hollow was separated out, of course, but it just… wasn't the same. Also he was mouthy as hell. Ichigo couldn't wait to get back to blissful silence.

_**That ain't happenin', Chief.**_ The hollow said, sounding serious for once, and Ichigo wondered when he'd gone from 'King' to 'Chief'. _**I like being able to tell you you're a pansy ass motherfucker. But I will merge with you a bit.**_

"I guess I'll have to take what I can get." Ichigo closed his eyes then, deciding to do a centring exercise. One thing his kido instructor was trying to teach him was how to mute his own reiatsu, and sense other people's. It was strange, because if Ichigo flipped over to his hollow methods, he could sense other people easily despite his own raging power. But if he used shinigami powers, he needed to mute his reiatsu first. It was worth doing, since his hollow sensing seemed to be severely limited in range. He carefully controlled his breathing, then focused on his reiatsu, trying to bring it down to a bearable level. The power would still be there, of course, just… stilled.

It wasn't easy. It was never easy, and Ichigo suspected his addiction to the reishi had a lot to do with it. His power was a raging torrent and did not want to become quiet. But he managed something like control and let his senses range out. He was surprised when the first thing he encountered was something very familiar.

"Byakuya is back!" He quickly sat up and tried to pinpoint the noble, but in his excitement he'd let his reiatsu flare out again. "Blast! Oh well." Ichigo put a hand over his eyes and concentrated a moment. The darker side of his power rose and he quickly pinpointed Byakuya. The range on it might be limited, but the manor was not that large. "Okay then." Ichigo muttered as he swept out of the garden. His eyes might freak the guards out, but that was just too bad. They should be getting used to it by now.

"Lord Byakuya!" Ichigo called as he popped into one of the many rooms in the house. Unfortunately, Rukia was already there, but that made him glad he'd remembered the 'lord' part. It kept her from giving him a catbutt face. "You're back!" He said with genuine pleasure. Things might have started a bit rough, but he was finding he really liked the noble. "How was work? Everyone still breathing?"

"Except for the hollows." Byakuya said with just the faintest trace of humor. "Speaking of which…" He tapped the side of his face and Ichigo blinked before figuring it out.

"Oh, sorry!" He put a hand over his eyes, concentrating. When he lowered it his eyes were brown again. "Can I talk to you when you have a minute?" He asked, glancing at Rukia. She wasn't quite glaring at him but she clearly wasn't happy with his presence, and he suddenly wondered if she was jealous. He was taking some of Byakuya's time, and she clearly felt he wasn't worthy of their attention. Still, it seemed like a very petty thing to be jealous over.

"Certainly. Will you be in the garden later?" He asked and Ichigo nodded. "I will see you there."

"Righty-o." Ichigo said, just to annoy Rukia. She hated those childish expressions. But he thought he saw another flicker of a smile on Byakuya's face before left to head back to the garden. He thought he would get some practice time in and work on his kido.

_**You're trying to impress him with your diligence, how cute.**_ Ichigo paused at the sneering, mocking tone of his hollow's voice and sent him a mental picture of an upraised middle finger.

"Shut the hell up, Hiro." He growled afterwards and felt the hollow's surprise.

_**Hiro?**_ He questioned and Ichigo grimaced, running a hand through his hair.

"Well, if you're going to be a permanent resident then you need a name." He hoped this wasn't a mistake. Maybe naming the thing would make it even more difficult to reunify. On the other hand, the hollow had already stated that he was going to resist, so it probably wouldn't make much difference.

_**A name for you to shout while we fuck? Excellent.**_

"God, Hiro, do you always have to be so crude… nevermind, don't answer that." He decided to ignore the squatter in his mind as he went to the target range. "Way of Destruction One: Stinging Bee!" The target exploded, which would have been more gratifying if he hadn't been trying to just do a spark. "I really need to get this power thing under control." He muttered, examining the wreckage critically. Ichigo's instructor thought the explosions were caused by his trying to force too much power through the kidos. Sometimes the supercharged kido worked, sometimes it exploded. And sometimes it didn't work at all, but that was becoming less frequent as he adapted to his shinigami powers. "Way of Destruction One: Stinging Bee!" This time it was a little better, and obliterated only half of the target. He was still working on that single kido when Byakuya arrived. Ichigo didn't notice him for a moment, too wrapped up in his latest attempt.

"Only a hole. Not bad." He said approvingly. It was still more power than should be going into that kido – Danica's level was actually about right – but it was infinitely better than he'd been doing earlier.

"You are trying to lower the power in your kido?" Byakuya's voice behind him almost made Ichigo jump out of his own skin. He turned to look at the noble and smiled. Byakuya was looking handsome as always and his hair was perfectly coiffed. Although Ichigo still wondered how those silver things stayed in his hair, exactly. He'd never seen his sisters wear anything like them.

"Yeah, Rodin thinks trying to jam too much power into it is why I have the explosions. He doesn't have any solution to the hollow mental block though." Ichigo admitted and Byakuya frowned slightly.

"I was under the impression that that issue seems to be resolving itself." He said and Ichigo half-shrugged.

"Yes, but it's not totally resolved and that's not the kind of thing you want to happen in a battle!" He pointed out and Byakuya nodded. "Also, um, it might get worse again. I really need to start reunifying my hollow. He might be a bastard, but I'm starting to miss him." Ichigo grinned as he heard Hiro make gagging sounds. "And the longer I wait the tougher it will get."

"Mmm." Byakuya sounded less than enthusiastic, and Ichigo didn't have to ask why. His hollow half creeped everyone out. He decided it was time to change the subject.

"So I was wondering. Can I come to the Seireitei with you and Renji?" Ichigo asked. "I promise to mind my manners and not pee on the carpeting." He added with a grin. Byakuya hesitated, looking at him for a long moment.

"Why would you want to do that?" He finally asked and Ichigo's grin faded. He hesitated, running a hand through his hair. This part was a bit difficult to admit.

"I want to get to know Renji better, and he's too busy to come down here regularly. And I'd like to hang out with you too, if you do that sort of thing." Ichigo wasn't sure at all about that. He somehow couldn't picture Byakuya hanging out at the mall with a group of friends. Did the Seireitei even have a mall? He could picture him hanging out at a tea shop though, enjoying some really nice tea and watching the people go by. But maybe that was just his imagination. "If that's okay?" He asked, frowning as he realized Byakuya had misgivings. There was no real sign on his face, but he could tell from how long the noble had been silent.

"Perhaps… Ichigo, the problem is your hollow powers." Byakuya said reluctantly and Ichigo looked at him blankly. "You do realize it is forbidden for a shinigami to have such abilities?"

"I thought that didn't matter unless I wanted to become a shinigami." Ichigo pointed out. Byakuya nodded but still seemed very trouble. "I'll try to be good, really I will. And they'll find out sooner or later anyway, right?" They couldn't keep him mewed up at Byakuya's manor forever.

"That is a good point." Byakuya acknowledged then grimaced slightly. "There have been requests to examine you. Perhaps it would be a good time to allow some of that." Ichigo sighed a bit at the thought. He wasn't interested in being a lab rat. He'd already spent way, way too much time in hospitals. But if that was how he was going to get to spend time with Renji, he would endure. "Very well. You can come with me to the Seireitei tomorrow."

"Excellent, thank you! I hope Renji will be glad to see me." Ichigo said cheerfully, and entirely truthfully. He did hope Renji would be glad to see him, and he wasn't at all certain he would be. After all, he clearly had someone else. What kind of a relationship did they have? Were they just fuck buddies or something more? Was what they had done just a temporary thing? Ichigo felt like curling his lip at the thought. If so, it was his own fault for being so damn easy. Not a mistake he would make again.

_**We'll see how long that lasts.**_ Hiro said in a taunting tone and Ichigo ignored him.

"I'm sure he will." Byakuya said and Ichigo looked at him sharply. There was something odd in his tone, but it was impossible for him to pinpoint. "You might want to go pack. We'll leave early tomorrow." Whatever it had been was gone, which was frustrating. Ichigo nodded.

"I'll get started right away." He said, although there really wasn't a lot to pack. He'd been given new clothes when he arrived, and Byakuya's seamstresses had tailored a few formal outfits to him, but it still wasn't much. He wasn't the kind of person who collected stuff, so he didn't have much in the way of personal possessions at all. "Thank you Byakuya." He added with a smile and was pleased with Byakuya smiled back.

"You're welcome." They parted ways then and Ichigo had to find a servant to give him some kind of suitcase. It was actually a leather trunk, and he soon had all his things packed.

He couldn't wait to see the Seireitei.

* * *

_Ichigo stood on the side of a building, gazing around his inner world._

_It always struck him as a very strange place. The laws of physics had no hold here, and up could be down and down could be up. The skyscrapers were more understandable. If given the choice between the wilderness and an urban setting, Ichigo would always pick the urban. He'd loved living by the lake and the other people, but he didn't really miss the forest._

_The part that really struck him as odd were the rooms. He could slip into a window of any of the buildings, but the inside would be mostly empty. Sometimes there would be random objects in the rooms, and sometimes they clearly had sentimental value, but sometimes he couldn't place them at all. Were they memories or bits and pieces of his imagination? Ichigo had no idea._

_Right now, though, he was looking for his hollow side. And, probably just to be annoying, Hiro was being coy about it. He'd expected the hollow to attack him as soon as he appeared, but so far he couldn't find him at all._

"_He's in there." Zangetsu appeared beside him and Ichigo followed the pointing finger to a particular window. It had been smashed out and the shards were coated with something that looked disturbingly like blood. "It's probably a trap." He added and Ichigo shrugged._

"_Gotta do what I gotta do." He wasn't going to let Hiro stay like this. He leapt out between the buildings and twisted in midair so he landed feet first on the opposite one. Up was suddenly down and Ichigo knew that if this had been Soul Society, rather than his inner world, he would be feeling sick with vertigo. Fortunately, it didn't work that way in his inner world._

_Crawling through the window was difficult. He almost cut himself on the shards and grimaced as they sliced his clothing. But he got through and looked around, struggling to see. This little room was dark, with only a thin line of light from the shattered window to illuminate it. That was unusual, most rooms in his personal world were lit with a warm, sourceless light._

_**Welcome to my parlour, said the spider to the fly.**_ _A dark voice purred, and Ichigo swallowed hard. Hiro sounded incredibly sexy but it reminded him of poisoned honey, sweet and deadly. __**Come closer, Ichigo, I want to see you. You've grown so much since the first time I came for you.**_

"_I'd be happier if I could see you. And when was that? When I died, or before?" He asked, genuinely curious. It was an interesting question._

_**Wouldn't you like to know? But I don't think I'm going to tell you. Now get over here, whore. We have some business.**__ The sweetness was gone, replaced with the usual mocking tone that Hiro favored. Ichigo relaxed slightly and stepped confidently into the shadows, waiting for his eyes to adjust._

_He wasn't expecting a sudden grip on his arm. Hiro jerked him around and Ichigo caught his balance, getting ready for a fight. But then the hollow shoved him away. He almost landed on his ass, but something wet and sticky caught him._

"_What the…" Ichigo turned his head and his eyes widened as he realized he was caught in a giant spider web. "How did you do this?" He wasn't too alarmed yet. It looked like Hiro wanted to dominate him sexually, but that wouldn't matter for the outcome. A dead white hand came out of the darkness and stroked his cheek._

_**Hah! Like I would tell you.**__ The rest of Hiro seemed to materialize out of the darkness, smiling evilly. Ichigo met the smile with one of his own. __**You're such a cocky little bitch. We'll see how long that lasts.**_

"_Longer than you will." Ichigo taunted and had to jerk his head to avoid a fist to his face. Fortunately the webbing had some give to it, although he couldn't get free. He tested it and found it was flexible but incredibly strong._

_**Stop trying to piss me off, or I'll fuck you until you bleed.**__ Came the cold threat and Ichigo blinked. That was new and unexpected. Hiro paused then smiled evilly. __**Actually, that was the plan anyway. Let's see how long it takes before you beg me to stop.**_

"_Wait, what?" Ichigo said in dawning horror. It had never occurred to him that his dark side could rape him. Could it? Perhaps… and then maybe the outcome would not be what he wanted. Hiro laughed, his echoing voice empty of any compassion or sympathy._

_**You heard me, bitch.**__ Ichigo's eyes narrowed as he rummaged around his mind, trying to think of some way to turn the tables on his hollow. Cold hands were on him and one dipped past his clothes, fondling his limp manhood. Ichigo gasped as the touch froze and burned, without any trace of pleasure. __**Oh look, a little bird. Maybe I'll eat it.**_

"_Little? Why you fucking bastard!" Ichigo snarled and acted on pure instinct. Hiro gasped as a scent filled the air. Ichigo took a deep breath, savoring it. It smelled like a combination of old spice, leather, sweat and semen. It should have been revolting, but it wasn't. Hiro's hand was still on his cock and while the touch still hurt, Ichigo found himself getting painfully hard._

_**You little bastard.**__ Hiro's hand was in his hair, yanking his head up as far as the web would allow. Furious gold and black eyes looked into brown. __**That's mine, not yours!**_

"_You're just a part of me. That's why I want you back. Come on, fuck me if you're man enough." Ichigo taunted his hollow, high on the scent he had released. It was a pheromone, he realized, and a powerful one. Hiro's pupils were dilated and the hands snatching off his clothing felt desperate._

_**Fuck you! You win, you pansy ass little bastard.**__ Hiro growled just before their lips crashed together in a bruising kiss. __**I'll fuck you, and you'll enjoy it like the whore you are. But I'm still going to be talking at the end of it, and next time I'm going to make you fight me!**_

"_I look forward to it." Ichigo breathed then arched in a combination of pain and pleasure as Hiro yanked down his pants and thrust into him in one brutal move. It hurt, hurt a lot, but then the darkness began to enter him and he moaned in ecstasy. Hiro's touch burned and froze and made him want to die for the pleasure of it. He wasn't aware of the blood on his thighs, or the way white fingers were ripping his back to shreds. None of it mattered. What mattered was the red sand, the howling wind and the fire of darkness in his soul. Hiro screamed curses at him as Ichigo began to feel both sides of the equation. He was the touched and the toucher again, and the sex became even rougher as he felt Hiro's anger and pleasure._

"_Surrender your soul." He whispered into a white ear, not sure where the words came from. Hiro howled like a wolf._

_**NEVER!**__ Ichigo arched as the pain and pleasure reached a peak of white hot agony. The dark room seemed to explode with light, illuminating them in a harsh glow as their souls merged as much as Hiro's resistance would allow._

_They both came down from the height of merging, panting and staring at each other, their bodies still locked together, coated in blood and semen. Hiro leaned forward, planting one more bruising kiss on his lips. Ichigo looked into frustrated, angry, yet sated gold eyes and found that there was no need for words. They both knew he had won._

_It wouldn't be the last time Hiro challenged him, but for now the hollow was his._

* * *

The flare of reiatsu woke Byakuya instantly.

For a sleepy, terrifying moment he thought the manor was under attack. The reiatsu in the flare stunk of hollow. It was followed by another, purer flare and that did not reassure him at all. It felt like a shinigami fighting a very powerful hollow.

Byakuya grabbed a robe and his sword before running out of the room. He almost ran into Rukia, who was still belting up her kimono. He felt a sudden chill and his stomach knotted as he realized the power was coming from _within_ the manor. How had a hollow gotten past their defences?

It was dark and he was afraid, so perhaps that was why he didn't recognize the room he'd reached until he threw open the door. He froze in place at the sight in front of him and heard Rukia gasp.

Ichigo was completely naked, lying on the sheets of his bed, with a gag in his mouth. Byakuya could sense the silencing kido and spared a moment of anger towards whoever had put that on him. But there was no one else in the room, despite the blood on the boy's thighs and the way fresh marks were opening on his shoulders. Ichigo made a muffled sound and Byakuya's eyes dropped, stopping on his evident arousal. There was another flare of that dark reiatsu and Ichigo writhed as though in the grasp of a phantom lover.

"N-Nii-san?" Cursing to himself he glanced over his shoulder and saw that Rukia was staring at Ichigo, pale and shocked. "What… how…" She gasped and Byakuya's eyes snapped back as Ichigo arched off the bed until nothing touched the covers but his head and heels. The next reiatsu flare was almost mind-numbing in intensity and it felt as if the two powers had combined. Byakuya swallowed as Ichigo's seed shot out, splattering his chest. He couldn't even begin to deal with the emotions seeing this raised inside him.

"Rukia, we must leave." He wished he'd left sooner, but it was all too strange. Rukia needed no prompting and almost ran out of the room. Byakuya followed and stopped the guards that would have run in to confront the hollow. The power was already ebbing away, and there was clearly no danger.

But he would be discussing this with Ichigo tomorrow.


	7. Seireitei

Ichigo woke up the next morning feeling a bit sore and quite pleased with himself. He'd triumphed over his hollow, and it would be some time before he needed to assert his dominance again.

There were a few downsides, though. The injuries he'd taken had healed like they had with Zangetsu, but the blankets on his bed were still marked with blood. Grimacing, he began to strip them off the bed. He would take them to the laundry himself and get them started on soaking in cold water. It was very early and he'd gotten a good start at cleaning them when one of the servants found him.

"Lord Byakuya would like you to join him for breakfast." The man said in a curiously neutral voice. Ichigo glanced up and found that he was avoiding his eyes.

"Uh, sure. Can you make sure the laundry ladies take care of this?" He asked. The blood was definitely coming out but the bedding would still need attention. The man nodded and Ichigo quickly left the laundry room. He didn't want to keep Byakuya waiting.

Fortunately, it looked like Byakuya hadn't been waiting long. Rukia was sitting beside him, sipping her tea and Ichigo was startled to see her blush as he stepped into the room.

"Good morning!" He said cheerfully, taking a seat across from Byakuya. The noble gazed at him expressionlessly but Ichigo had the strange feeling he was trying not to laugh. "This looks wonderful." He briefly admired the breakfast before digging in. It was fried eggs over congee, and sliced fruits arranged in pretty patterns. Or they were pretty, until he started eating them.

"You slept well?" Byakuya's voice had a very strange note and Ichigo glanced up as Rukia made a choking sound before hiding her face in her teacup.

"Pretty good, why?" He said cluelessly, then suddenly remember his hollow's threat. "Oh, damn. You felt my reiatsu last night, didn't you?" He'd hoped that was just a bluff, but apparently not.

"You could say that, yes. May I ask precisely what happened?" Byakuya asked and Ichigo hesitated for a moment. But if he couldn't tell them, who could he tell? And they had a right to know.

"Um, well… I told you I was going to reunify my hollow." He had definitely mentioned that to Byakuya although he hadn't gone into details. "That was how it works. We, uh, had a bit of a contest and I won." Ichigo frowned as he remembered his hollow's threats of rape. "He was a bit nastier than usual though."

"What… sort of contest?" Rukia asked, sounding very strange indeed. Ichigo blinked as he looked at her red face, then glanced at Byakuya's twitching lips.

"Oh…! You guys came into my room? I thought I'd locked the door!" That was utterly appalling. What had they seen? It must have been pretty special, Rukia looked like she might stroke out at any moment. He wasn't sure if she was dying from held back laughter or embarrassment. Byakuya was handling it better and he took a sip of his tea before responding.

"It's just as well you did not. We would have broken it down. The repeated reiatsu clashes felt like a shinigami fighting a hollow." Byakuya cleared his throat and gave Ichigo a stern look. "In the future, please let us know when you're going to do that."

"Uh, right." Ichigo muttered, his face almost as red as Rukia's. "I'm really sorry. I thought maybe he was bluffing when he said he'd make me flare my reiatsu like a bitch in heat." That was too much for Rukia and she dissolved into muffled laughter, trying to mute herself with the sleeves of her robe. "Aw, it's not that funny!"

"In retrospect, it's hilarious." Byakuya corrected him. "It was also a rather impressive display. But in the future, give us some warning." Ichigo nodded. "Please, eat. It is not a quick trip to the Seireitei."

"Right." Ichigo managed to swallow his embarrassment enough to eat and make some small talk. It turned out they were walking to the Seireitei, with the aid of flash step. Although Ichigo hadn't mastered it at all. He vastly preferred the hollow power that did the same thing and came to him as easily as breathing.

_And you are as fast as Byakuya using it, so there really is no point in learning flash step._ Zangetsu observed dispassionately and Ichigo nodded to himself. _Your time is better spent on kido._

"I hear ya." He muttered to himself, setting down his cup and looking over the breakfast. It was pretty much demolished. "Are we ready to go?" He was definitely ready to go. Byakuya nodded.

"Gather your things and meet us at the front gate." He said. Ichigo nodded and jumped to his feet. He was eager to be out and about.

He couldn't wait to see the Seireitei.

* * *

"This wall is creeeeeepy." Ichigo complained as he looked at the walls to the Seireitei. Rukia scowled at him while Byakuya looked at him thoughtfully. "I don't think I could even pull reishi out of it." He was getting very good at feeding himself on reishi, but he didn't think this wall would be giving him anything. That was highly unusual, stone was usually a very good source for dark spirit fragments.

"It would be surprising if you could. That wall is our first line of defense, and it mutes and absorbs reiatsu." Byakuya said, walking up to the gate. Ichigo grimaced and followed, trying to stay as far from the walls as he could. He had an unsettling feeling that they might pull the reishi out of him if he brushed them.

But soon he was past that hurdle and looking around the Seireitei curiously. It was like a city within a city, and infinitely finer than the slums they'd passed through. There weren't any poor people here, although a lot of the residents probably weren't nobles. They seemed to represent the middle class of Soul Society, and Ichigo wondered how a commoner got to live here. Mostly born into it, or retired shinigami? It didn't really matter that much to him though.

Ichigo frowned as he suddenly thought of something. At the Kuchiki manor, he'd always had plenty to do. As a ward of the clan, he was under Byakuya's protection but not a noble. As such, he had plenty of time to practice and attend to his lessons, but the servants were also more than willing to give him chores. His favorite had been breaking up firewood with Zangetsu, much to his zanpakuto's disgust. But what would he do with his time here?

"You're medically trained, so I've prevailed on Unohana, Captain of the 4th Division, to take you on as an assistant." Byakuya said and Ichigo blinked. It was like the noble had read his mind. "You will mostly be handling simple duties." He cautioned and Ichigo grinned.

"That's perfect! I never want to do another c-section as long as I live." He said sincerely. That would haunt him forever. "When I worked at dad's clinic, I was always the one to sweep the floors and disinfect things." Running a clinic had a lot of scut work, and he and his sisters had often been asked to help out. "So that's just fine."

"Good. I will make sure Renji comes to see you. He can get his shots at the same time." Byakuya said and Rukia laughed softly.

"Maybe with you to hold his hand, he won't be so afraid of the needles!" She said merrily and Ichigo blinked. Afraid of needles?

"How can Renji be afraid of needles? Did he faint every time he got a tattoo?" He asked, fascinated. He'd known plenty of people who were needle phobic, and not a single one had been tattooed. It just didn't make any sense.

"Oh, those tattoos were put on him by his zanpakuto. If needles had been involved it never would have happened." Rukia assured him and Ichigo nodded. Strangely, she seemed far more relaxed around him in the Seireitei. Or maybe it was what she'd seen last night, although he couldn't imagine how that would have helped her opinion of him. Unless she'd liked what she'd seen? Nah.

"Well damn, why can't my zanpakuto be cool and give me pain free tats?" Ichigo grinned as he felt a wave of disgust from Zangetsu and Hiro laughed hysterically. "Ah, he didn't like that one bit."

_**He ought to give you an ass kicking, King! And I'll be there watching when he does!**_ Hiro said merrily and there was another feeling of disgust from the shinigami part of his soul.

_I'll give you a tattoo of a cuddly little kitten._ Zangetsu said grumpily and Ichigo choked.

"That's mean! Hiro's rubbing off on you." He told his sword and caught curious looks from Byakuya and Rukia. "Zangetsu is saying he'll give me a tattoo of a cuddly l'il kitten." Rukia giggled and Byakuya smiled faintly.

"Hiro?" He asked and Ichigo shrugged.

"That's what I've started calling my hollow, since he refuses to shut up. Hey, what is that?" Ichigo was distracted by what looked like an immense temple. There was gold leaf on the roof, and very pretty dragons guarding the doorway. But the sign above seemed to be saying something about dancing?

"That's Miata's School of Dance. You'll be having some lessons there." Byakuya informed him and Ichigo nodded. He rather liked dance lessons and he was alarmingly good at it. Alarmingly because he had a feeling he might get dragooned into something he wouldn't like if he proved to be a bit TOO good at it. That had been his experience in the living world, anyway.

They reached the Kuchiki city house, and Ichigo glanced around approvingly. It was tiny compared to the manor, but large for a building in the Seireitei. The building was made out of dark red brick and the roof was black lacquer. There were a few potted plants in front of the house and Ichigo breathed in the smell of summer flowers. There was also a bird feeder hanging off a corner of the roof, although from the squirrel perched on it, it wasn't really doing its job.

"This is a really pretty little place." Ichigo said with a smile. In a way, he liked it better than the manor. The manor was so spread out, with such long hallways, that it often felt empty even when it wasn't. This little house wouldn't be like that at all. "Oh, this is cozy." He said as they went inside. There was a little fireplace and a very comfortable den. The decorations were very tasteful, all done in dark red and black. Ichigo particularly liked the black geometric patterns on the red cushions.

"I've always found that it's rather small, but it should be adequate for three people." Byakuya commented as he led them upstairs. "This will by your room, Ichigo." Ichigo glanced around it and nodded. The red and black theme was prevalent, and he particularly liked the bronze brazier in the corner of the room. Although he had a feeling that was functional. A bit of charcoal in it would warm up a cold winter night.

"It's lovely." It was nothing like his room had been in the Living world, but that was fine. In fact, that was excellent. The last thing he needed was a bout of homesickness, and this cozy little home was threatening to give him one. It definitely had a lived in feel that the manor somewhat lacked. Ichigo took the time to put away his clothes before venturing downstairs. He grinned as he saw Byakuya talking quietly with Renji.

"Renji!" He quickly gave his lover a rough hug, and breathed in his scent. It was a wonderful, masculine scent, and there was no hint of anyone else's musk. Since he would have detected it for up to a week, that gave him a great deal of pleasure. "How's it been?" He asked as Renji returned the hug then mussed his hair. "Hey, watch it! Don't you know how much effort I put into getting my hair just right?"

"Yeah, I do. None at all. I lived with you for a week, remember? You didn't even have a comb!" Ichigo stuck his tongue out at Renji then yelped as his hair got fluffed again. "I've missed you." Their eyes met and Ichigo's heart melted a little at the heat in those cinnamon eyes. The kiss that followed was passionate and heartfelt, until Byakuya cleared his throat.

"Renji, perhaps you should show him around." Byakuya said calmly as the two lovers parted, blushing.

"Sure thing, Taichou!" Renji tugged Ichigo outside and he went willingly. He was more than happy to spend time with Renji, although part of his mind reminded him that he needed to set the ground rules, and soon. Very soon.

They spent most of the afternoon just hanging out, and Ichigo fell comfortably back into his old friendship with Renji. He got to know the other guy better, too, when Renji took him out into the Rukongai. Finding out about his history there was fascinating if a little grim.

"You make me feel so sheltered. I never lived in a place this dangerous, ever." Ichigo said as he carefully avoided a pair of children playing in the dirt. Renji just laughed.

"Oh yeah? Aren't you the guy who strangled a bear with his bare hands? That's what Danica says, anyway!" Ichigo blushed at the reminder. "Not too many bears around here, or Adjuchas either!"

"I guess you have a point." A rather good one in fact. But Ichigo was still more wary of street criminals than he was of bears and hollows. Bears and hollows he knew what to do with. People? He wasn't really too keen on killing people, even if they were probably assholes. "So where are we going?"

"Well, see, I know this whorehouse –" Renji said with a wide grin and immediately got Ichigo's back up, but not in the way he'd wanted. Ichigo's eyes narrowed and he stopped dead as he remembered the scent of sex he'd picked up on the redhead.

"Renji, I know we didn't discuss this earlier, so I'm going to tell you right now." He said with a deadly calm as Renji looked at him, startled. "I am a possessive bastard. I don't share, ever. So if you want to sleep with other people, we need to stop seeing each other right now." It hurt to lay it out like that, and Ichigo was genuinely afraid that Renji would stop seeing him. But he had to say it, had to put it out there. His hollow instincts did not allow for a wandering mate.

_**Damn right. Good thing fucking me counts as masturbation, eh?**_ Hiro's vulgar laugh pissed Ichigo off, but he ignored it as he met stunned cinnamon eyes.

"What about that hollow you fuck all the time?" Renji said, but Ichigo could tell he was stalling. He snorted as Hiro laughed again.

"That's masturbation." He said bluntly. "And if you want, I can invite you to my spirit world sometime to meet him. He'll probably try to kill you, though. Not because he's possessive but because he's an asshole. So, what is it? Yes or no?" His heart ached, but he needed an answer.

_**Nah, I think I'll try to fuck him just to piss you off.**_ Ichigo gritted his teeth at that and stared at Renji. The redhead looked disturbed and uncertain, not exactly the best combination. But he took a deep breath before taking Ichigo's hands.

"Okay, I'm fine with that." Renji said softly and Ichigo relaxed slightly. "I was actually kidding about the whorehouse. There's a bar I go to with the guys from the 11th, I thought you would like to see it."

"Sure, but I don't drink. My reiatsu can go wildly out of control when I'm drunk." Ichigo thought Renji deserved some kind of explanation and the redhead nodded before flashing him a grin.

"We wouldn't want that! You're terrifying enough as it is." Ichigo laughed and followed Renji. He was looking forward to seeing the bar, even if he could only drink the water. He wanted to know more about how Renji lived.

_**I noticed you didn't mention to him that you can smell sex.**_ Hiro said tauntingly and Ichigo huffed a small sigh, regarding Renji's profile. He wanted to trust the redhead, and yet…

_He does not need to know._ Zangetsu said, putting Ichigo's feelings into words. _If he is trustworthy it will not matter, and if he is not trustworthy then he certainly does not need to know._ Ichigo nodded, hoping that his sense of smell would prove to be completely unnecessary.

But if not, he was ready.

* * *

Ichigo hummed to himself as he swept the floors of the 4th Division.

As anticipated, he was doing a lot of menial work. The only surprise was that he was also being put to work doing healing kido and basic medical work, especially when a lot of injured came in. That had only happened once, and Ichigo had gotten to practice his stitching technique. He'd been given the less wounded shinigami to work on, so all of his patients had survived, something he was thankful for.

Now he was waiting for Renji to show up. Ichigo's lips curled into a wicked smile as he thought about it. Byakuya had asked his lover to pick him up after work and bring him to Byakuya's favorite tea house so they could all hang out together, although he hadn't put it that way. What Renji didn't know was that he wouldn't be leaving without a physical, some blood tests and a few shots. Unohana was lying in ambush.

"Ichigo!" And the victim had arrived. Ichigo looked up with a smile as Renji walked into the room. "How are you doing?"

"Pretty good. And you?" Ichigo asked amiably as Unohana walked through the door behind Renji. He hadn't noticed yet, pulling Ichigo into a hug and a gentle kiss. "Mmm. I see it's been going okay for you." He murmured, tangling a hand in Renji's collar. Renji laughed softly.

"Oh, it's been great, I – uh?" He turned his head at the soft clearing of a throat behind him. "Unohana taichou?" Renji glanced around, suddenly wary and looking for escape routes as Unohana smiled pleasantly at him.

"While you were here, Renji, Byakuya taichou requested that we take care of your physical." She said sweetly and as Renji started to inch away, Ichigo grinned and put an arm around his shoulder, running a finger over a tattoo on his arm teasingly. "I'm afraid you are very overdue for some blood tests. I'm sure you understand."

"What… this is a trap! Ichigo!" Renji looked at him, deeply betrayed, but Ichigo just shrugged. He wasn't going to disobey Byakuya to help Renji avoid an unpleasant duty, lover or not.

"It was an order from Byakuya, and he's right. Come on, be a man. If you'd gotten those tats the proper way you wouldn't have a problem with needles." Ichigo traced another tattoo and smiled as he saw the redhead shiver slightly at the sensation. "I'll keep you distracted while she pricks you, how about that?"

"Nothing can distract me from that." He said, trying to wiggle away but trapped between Ichigo and the 4th Division taichou. Ichigo grinned as he decided to take that as a challenge. A challenge he was more than glad to take up, as he leaned close and gently nibbled Renji's earlobe. "Ichigo! We're not alone here!"

"I told you I'd distract you from the needles. Seriously, take it like a man." Ichigo reminded him as he pulled the redhead toward the examination table and Unohana got her equipment ready.

This was really going to be a lot of fun.


	8. Tests and Irresponsibility

"I really hate you."

"You say that now, but you'll love me later." Ichigo said drowsily, lying in the sun. He felt loose and happy, unlike Renji, who was still traumatized by yesterday's needles. "I want to put my legs around you and take you to paradise. Come on, violate me." He was kidding, sort of. They were in the peace gardens and sex right then and there would probably get them arrested. Not that he actually cared, but it was something to keep in mind. Just to mess with Renji, he rested a foot on his thigh and gently massaged the muscle with his toes.

"Damn it, Ichigo!" His foot was shoved away and Ichigo opened his eyes, feeling vaguely offended as Renji glared at him. "I'm serious here. Why do you always have to be such a dick?"

"Huh? What did I do?" He asked, a bit baffled. "You think I should have disobeyed Byakuya?" That was just not going to happen, ever. He liked Renji but he really respected the Byakuya Kuchiki. And besides, he was Renji's taichou.

"You should have warned me. And you shouldn't have got me hard in front of Unohana!" Ichigo laughed then gasped as a hard hand grabbed his collar and yanked him upright so surprised brown eyes were looking into angry cinnamon. "And it's not fucking funny!"

"Okay, it's not funny." Ichigo said, mostly to placate the redhead. He'd lost all sense of shame a long time ago, when the dreams started and everyone in the cave had gotten to marvel at his manhood. "I'm sorry, I won't do it again." He said that more sincerely, while making a mental note to try not to embarrass Renji quite so much. If it bothered the redhead, he'd try to change a bit.

"You better not." Renji said, a bit mollified by his acceptance. Ichigo smiled and slid a hand behind his head, pulling the redhead into a gentle, chaste kiss. Or at least, it started that way. It turned pretty hot a moment later.

"Ahem." They both looked up, startled, and Ichigo blushed as he met calm grey eyes. Byakuya again, which made him wonder. It seemed like the noble interrupted him and Renji quite a bit. Was that a coincidence, or were they just doing way too many PDA's? He couldn't imagine Byakuya wanted to interrupt them. "Ichigo, have you forgotten your dance recital?"

"Oh, shit!" Ichigo sat bolt upright and checked his watch. The recital was due to start in ten minutes. "Thanks Byakuya gottagorightnowbye!" He hollow stepped away so fast that the trees rattled. He missed Byakuya's frown after him.

"That was not a flash step." He said to himself. He'd seen Ichigo use it before, of course, but it was still alarming. Renji shrugged.

"Yeah, but it does the same thing. Right taichou?" He said hopefully and Byakuya shook his head.

"Renji, you will escort Ichigo to the 12th Division tomorrow." He said formally as Renji winced. "You will stay with him at all times and make certain he is not harmed in any way." Byakuya trusted Mayuri considerably less far than he could throw him. With Senbonzakura, he might be able to throw the man a fair distance.

"Ah, right." Renji sounded glum. "He won't be sticking any needles into me, will he?"

"No. Make sure he doesn't inject anything into Ichigo." Byakuya said and Renji nodded again.

"He'll want to. But I'll do my best, taichou." Renji glanced after Ichigo, wondering how his dance recital was going. But he wasn't going to follow to find out.

Love had its limits.

* * *

"Oh yeah!" Ichigo was really enjoying himself. Sure, the electrodes and monitoring crap were annoying, but being able to spar with all kinds of guys from the Divisions was fun. Byakuya had been continuing his training, of course, but it had still been focused on kido. His solo practices were fun but he wanted more.

"Oh, you're having fun are you?" The bald guy across from him was grinning. Ichigo wasn't the least bit surprised. Renji had already introduced them, and he knew Ikkaku loved fighting even more than drinking, and he loved drinking quite a bit. "Tell me, who is your master?"

"I don't have a master. I don't even have a superior." Ichigo answered flippantly then had to back up as Ikkaku attacked strongly.

"You have excellent reaction times. Your hits are violently strong. You tell me you learned this on your own? Who taught you?" He asked as they continued to spar and Ichigo grinned, giving himself over to the pleasure of combat.

"The sword, Byakuya and Zangetsu. Fighting? No one! Or rather, hundreds, maybe even thousands of hollows." Ichigo began to push forward, his blows coming fast and furious and forcing Ikkaku back. "An Adjuchas there… a Menos Grande there… did you know you can strangle a hollow with your bare hands? I know. I did it, and watched him die." Ichigo grinned, knowing his voice had taken on the echoing tone of his inner hollow. A bead of sweat traced down Ikkaku's face and some bizarre impulse made him want to lick it up.

"Bullshit! You can't kill a hollow by strangling them! You need a zanpakuto!" He snarled back and Ichigo laughed as his eyes turned black and gold.

"Nah, you just need other hollows hanging around, waiting for the scraps. They never turn down a free meal. Hiya! Getsuga Tenshou!" Ichigo called on the power of his zanpakuto, and augmented it with the power of his hollow. Ikkaku's eyes went wide for a moment before he was blasted back. "Aw, don't tell me that's all you've got. I will be ever so disappointed." Ichigo glanced down at himself and was pleased to see his body was still flesh colored. If he'd been bleeding to white, that would have been too much.

"Uragh! Extend, Hozukimaru!" Ikkaku called and Ichigo blinked as his sword and scabbard turned into a spear. "Don't misjudge, Ichigo!"

"Misjudge what? Your breath?" Ichigo jibed before dodging a few strikes from the spear. "The length of a spear? I think I can figure that out!" Ikkaku left himself vulnerable and Ichigo naturally tried to take advantage. "Eh?" Instinct screamed a warning and he got his hand up to protect his face just in time. "Argh!" He leapt back, blood streaming freely from a deep cut in his hand.

_**Haha, he tricked you King!**_ The hollow within him laughed, and Ichigo sent Hiro a mental finger salute. Then he closed his eyes for a moment and reached deep.

"Huh?" Ikkaku watched as skin bled to white, and hair bleached from orange to bone. Ichigo lifted his injured hand and flicked the blood off, opening his black and gold eyes.

"_**Isn't high speed regeneration cool?"**_ He flipped his hand over so Ikkaku could see the quickly closing wound. _**"I wasn't going to show you this, but since Mayuri said to go all out, why the hell not? You'll have to do a lot better than that to put me away."**_ Ichigo knew he sounded just like Hiro, but couldn't bring himself to care. This fight was just too much fun!

"You bastard! That's cheating!" Ikkaku charged and his eyes went wide as Ichigo was no longer there. "Wh – AH!" He leapt forward and whirled around. "You jerk! Did you just slap me on the ass?!"

"_**Could be. Did you like it?"**_ Ichigo grinned, letting Hiro have his way. His inner hollow was in a mischievous mood, and he shared the feeling. _**"I could grab your cock next time." **_Ikkaku's eyes narrowed as he looked at the white version of his sparring partner.

"Ichigo, is that you?" He moved Hozukimaru to the ready position as Ichigo lost his grin. "Are you in control?" Ichigo scowled and deliberately pulled Hiro back, letting his skin go back to the shade of flesh.

"Yeah, it's me. I was just letting Hiro play a bit. Sorry for the ass slapping, he's horny all the damn time." He said lightly and felt Hiro's disgruntlement.

_**You're seriously blaming it all on me? You wanted to do it too!**_ He complained and Ichigo laughed to himself.

"Hush, you. You exist to take the blame." He said softly before Ikkaku growled and attacked again. Without going that deep, meeting his new range and flexibility was challenging. He took another good slash on his arm before he started to get the hang of it. "Heh, I hope you have some more tricks up your sleeves, because this is getting easy!" He decided to go with the old and tested, and pulled a rock out of his pocket. "Eat hot stone!"

"What – OW!" Ikkaku had to duck and still got nipped by the edge of blue power. "What the hell is that?"

"Just something I cooked up in my crazy pot – eh?" They both stopped as reiatsu flooded the room. Ichigo felt frozen by the feeling of bloodlust, and Ikkaku was looking utterly appalled. "Oh… crap. I am actually scared now." The golden reiatsu was absolutely overwhelming and he was surprised to hear a muffled sound of fury.

"Zaraki! Get out of here! Your reiatsu is disrupting my research!" Kurotsuchi, of course. Ichigo had almost forgotten that the scientist was evaluating his powers. Then suddenly Hiro surged up and Ichigo yelped as he was almost unseated as head of his body. He couldn't stop the hollow from grabbing control of his mouth as Zaraki walked into the room, grinning his usual, homicidal grin.

"_**I am in lust. Please, take me now, you fucking monster."**_ Ichigo immediately mounted a counter assault and his flesh began rapidly changing from white to flesh as his body staggered. _**"I'm just telling him how you really feel, you whore! Don't blame the fucking messenger!"**_ Everyone was staring at him and Ichigo tried to stop Hiro's next act, but couldn't. Zaraki glanced around, wrinkling his nose.

"What the hell is that smell?" He said, rubbing his nose. Ichigo groaned as his body became painfully hard and he rained down a thousand curses on Hiro's head. Ikkaku was whimpering and Kurotsuchi sounded like he was having a nerd orgasm.

"Amazing! An incredibly potent sexual pheromone! I must bottle this!" The doors to the training room opened and Kurostuchi walked in, holding a vial and an empty syringe. "Samples, I must have samples! Come over here Kurosaki!"

"_**Get away from me you freak! Hey, you're not hard, what gives?"**_ Hiro sounded confused and Ichigo managed to throttle him into submission, his body finally going back to flesh color. _**Bitch! I was having fun. What the hell do you have against fun?**_

"For starters, I don't fuck around! For second, have some fucking pride! He hasn't even beaten us in battle yet!" Ichigo snarled, and he could tell Hiro was completely unimpressed by that argument. Ikkaku was hunched over, holding his groin. It was impossible to see Zaraki's reaction, but Ichigo's sense of smell told him the taichou was affected, just ignoring it well. Then Ichigo dodged as Mayuri went after him with the needle. "No! Come on, it's just stupid Hiro and his stupid – AWK!" Someone small and agile smashed him to the ground and Ichigo tried desperately to get unpinned. "Nemu, let go of me!"

"He's just taking a sample Kurosaki-kun. He won't inject you with anything. Please be still." She assured him and Ichigo hesitated being lying still. He was supposed to let Kurotsuchi take samples, even if he really didn't want to give up his pheromones. He shuddered to think what use the lunatic would put it to. Muttering curses, he let Mayuri extract a vial of some strange, dark green liquid. It was shockingly viscous and Ichigo was dismayed to find the best place to get it was glands under his armpits.

"I will have to examine you more thoroughly! Get out of here, Kenpachi. Science calls!" Ichigo whimpered and looked at Zaraki and Ikkaku pleadingly as he was dragged out of the room, but they both just watched the unwilling youth getting pulled away.

"What a downer. I'll have to look him up some other time." Zaraki shrugged and turned away. "I wonder if he was serious about that? Eh. Not my thing." He muttered as he briefly considered Hiro's offer. It was intriguing, in a way, but he wasn't much into fucking hollows.

He vastly preferred killing them.

* * *

"Ugggh." Ichigo lay on his bed, an arm thrown over his face. He was absolutely, completely exhausted. "Fuck you Hiro. Fuck Mayuri, fuck Nemu, fuck my life." After his little pheromone display, the scientist had found all kinds of additional tests to run. It hadn't hurt but it hadn't been fun. He felt unbelievably drained.

_**Suck it up, you pussy. It's for science!**_ Hiro said with false enthusiasm and Ichigo cursed him soundly in several different languages.

_Calm down, Ichigo._ Zangetsu was calm as always. _Truthfully, it was as much your fault as his. And you have a visitor._

"Huh? …Oh." Ichigo looked up as the door opened. Then he lifted a hand for a weak wave. "Hi taichou. I'm going to die, just ignore me." Then he let his head flop back down. He was very surprised when cool hands touched his head. "Huh?" He opened his eyes to meet concerned grey ones.

"Are you well, Kurosaki Ichigo?" Ichigo blinked at the concern in Byakuya's eyes. "Renji was supposed to watch over you." He said with a faint frown and Ichigo hesitated a moment before deciding he wasn't going to lie. If Renji got into trouble, that was Renji's problem.

"He was there at first, but then he asked Ikkaku to sub in for him. Then Mayuri had us spar, and Ikkaku got distracted when Kenpachi showed up. So I was alone with him for a while." He admitted. Byakuya's expression was superficially calm but Ichigo had the feeling he was anything but amused. "He didn't inject me with anything though. He just took a ton of blood, tissue samples, the works. He did keep muttering something about bottling me, but I tried to ignore it." He would have been happier if he'd thought Mayuri was joking, but Ichigo rather thought he wasn't. Byakuya's frown boded ill for his fukutaichou. "I'm fine really. Just so tired… too much blood loss, and Hiro refuses to patch me up." His hollow was sulking a bit over the whole thing.

"I see. I will see that you have some food, it is good for blood loss." Byakuya stood, and Ichigo nodded before giving him a smile.

"Thank you for checking on me." He murmured, feeling a surprising warmth to the taichou. Maybe Zangetsu had a point. Renji had abandoned him, although it had been very, very boring. Still… did Renji really care about him? Ichigo sighed to himself and closed his eyes. He was shocked as a different hand touched his shoulder and he looked up into blue eyes.

"Nii-san asked me to bring you some supper." Rukia said softly and Ichigo blinked woozily.

"But it's not that… time…?" Ichigo glanced out the window and saw, to his shock, that the sun was beginning to set. "Oh. Uh, I must have slept." Although he actually thought he'd passed out. That wasn't good. "Rukia… thank you." He took the tray with trembling hands and set it on his knees.

"It is nothing." She said, her tone neutral and she frowned as he watched him carefully cutting the meat. His hands really did not want to cooperate. "Will you be okay? You seem very shaky." Ichigo managed to get a piece of meat into his mouth and nodded. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until now. A short chew and swallow later, he replied.

"I think I'll be fine. I just feel weak. How much blood did he take out of me?" Ichigo wondered. He'd lost some in the sparring, too, come to think of it. Eyes narrowing, he tried to figure it out. He was medically trained so he had some idea of how much blood a body could use, although it might differ for shinigami. "Shit, I think he might have taken almost thirty percent." He muttered, looking at his hands. No wonder he was shaky. "If I were human I'd probably be in shock." Fortunately, he was much tougher than any human. Rukia gently patted his shoulder.

"You're recover. Shinigami are much stronger than other souls, and you are a shinigami in everything but name." Ichigo swallowed, without any food in his mouth, as he heard that. Shinigami were forbidden to have powers like his. Rukia seemed to sense his unease. "Don't worry, nii-san will take care of you."

"Yeah. I'm grateful to him, Rukia." He said and was surprised to see tears in her eyes. "Rukia?" He reached out to her and she caught his large hand in both of her smaller ones.

"I'm sorry, Ichigo. When you first came, I thought you didn't appreciate my brother and the things he was doing for you. I was wrong, and I'm sorry." She said softly and Ichigo stared at her for a moment before resting his other hand on top of hers and giving her a gentle squeeze.

"There's nothing to be sorry about. You did your duty and helped teach me. I would like it if we could be friends, though." He said with a smile and Rukia smiled back. The smile made her blue eyes shine, and he found them oddly entrancing.

"We'll have to see, Ichigo." Was all she said, but Ichigo had a feeling this might be the beginning of something good. He was about to start eating again when his door slammed open.

"Ichigo! Why did you tell him I – uh." An infuriated Renji ground to a halt as he saw Rukia giving him a scorching glare. "Rukia! What are you doing here?"

"I am feeding him. He's cold and pale from blood loss." She said frigidly and Ichigo was amused to see that coldness turned on someone else. "And where were you when he was being drained by that lunatic, Renji?" She demanded and Renji made a small choking sound.

"I was – I just – I had to finish the paperwork! I have duties, Rukia!" He exclaimed and Ichigo shook his head, just continuing with his meal. The food was already making him feel a bit better.

"Idiot! Looking after him was your duty!" Ichigo winced. Rukia had a very carrying voice. "And now you come in here to criticize him for telling the truth? In case you hadn't noticed, Renji, Ichigo always tells the truth!" Ichigo blinked. He was a bit surprised Rukia would give him that much credit, although she was correct. He didn't much believe in lying although he would do it if necessary. As in, life and death necessary. "Now either behave, or go away and let him eat in peace!"

"Y-Yes, Rukia." Renji bowed his head and Rukia sniffed before walking past him, her head held high. Ichigo was impressed with the noble demeanor. Maybe there was a point to her lessons after all. Renji hesitated before taking a seat beside him. "Was it that bad? I asked Ikkaku to look after you." He said softly after a moment. Ichigo sighed.

"Ikkaku lost interest, and Kurotsuchi had me alone in his lab for a while. But as far as I could tell, he just took a lot of samples. It's mostly the blood loss that's bothering me." He finished his meat and started on the rice and vegetables. "I'll be fine, I think." Hiro and Zangetsu both silently agreed. Renji bowed his head for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Ichigo. I'm still mad at you, though. You didn't have to tell him." Renji said and Ichigo's eyes narrowed. That… was pretty damn unattractive.

"And you didn't have to leave me alone. Dishonors are about even, don't you think?" He finished the food, putting the tray on his nightstand. "You can sleep with me if you want, but it will be nothing but sleep. I'm too tired for sex." He lay down on the bed, facing away from the redhead. He honestly expected Renji to curl up behind him. They'd slept together, nothing but sleep, many times. He looked up in surprise as Renji flash stepped out of the room, gently shutting the door.

"Renji…" He said softly, then shook his head before closing his eyes and trying to sleep. That hurt, but he really needed to sleep.

He could worry about Renji tomorrow.


	9. Making a Mistake

Author's note: The comments made me realize I haven't really explained Renji's feelings enough. He's changed a bit, but Ichigo has changed more in a way… so this should explain some things.

Renji sighed to himself as he glanced over at Ichigo. The teen was eating his lunch with a remote expression, his gaze fixed on some nearby birds that were busy picking up a scatter of crumbs.

He wasn't sure how he felt about Ichigo anymore. That was the simple truth of the matter. It wasn't just what had happened yesterday, which had admittedly been mostly his fault. It was plenty of things. Since he'd come to Kuchiki manor and Seireitei, Ichigo had changed. He'd been nutty before, but at the caldera his nuttiness had been tamed by the fact that he was the protector. He had a job, and he worked hard every single day making sure everyone was safe. Here, he was the one being protected, and while Ichigo didn't slack he also wasn't taking things seriously at all anymore. He was… goofing around. Renji almost had the feeling he was making up for lost time, trying to recapture the childhood he'd lost prematurely.

The problem was, it could get really old. Renji almost wished they could make the strawberry a proper shinigami. He could just see himself patrolling with Ichigo, those black and gold eyes scanning for threats as their owner stood at his side, guarding him with his life. It would work, he knew it would. It would get Ichigo back to being semi-serious, as well, and he really wanted that.

But it couldn't happen. That was the other reason Renji wasn't sure about his feelings. Mayuri was in rhapsodies over his findings, but the rest of the Gotei 13 found them grim reading. The only reason they hadn't gotten rid of the kid was Byakuya's protection. Renji knew that with a sick certainty, and he wasn't sure that protection would last forever. Ichigo seemed to have no idea how much danger he was in, or maybe he just didn't want to face it, since there was almost nothing he could do to defend himself. And there was nothing Renji could do, either. Did he want a lover who might get hauled off to the Maggot's Nest at any moment?

"Renji, are you okay?" Ichigo said and he looked up, surprised as he met warm brown eyes. "I'm sorry about yesterday." He said softly and Renji cringed a little on the inside before capturing warm hands in his.

"Don't be, you and Rukia were right. It was my fault." He said softly. Suddenly, he didn't want his relationship with Ichigo to end. It was probably crazy and stupid, but he'd really miss the guy. "I have an idea. Why don't you come help me do my paperwork and we can go hunt squirrels?" He offered. Ichigo looked surprised, then grinned.

"Squirrel hunting! I knew you loved me." They kissed then and Renji loved every minute of it. Ichigo might be weird, but his joy was infectious. "I'd be glad to help you out. Byakuya found extra paperwork to punish you?"

"Oh yeah." Renji sighed as he thought about the mountain of paperwork in his office. "But he didn't say I couldn't get someone to help, so it should be fine." He said optimistically. True, Byakuya hadn't forbidden it, but he might not be very amused either. But he had a captain's meeting so he'd probably never notice. And if he did, well, Renji could always say he wanted to spend more time with Ichigo. That had the advantage of being true.

"Well, let's get going then." Ichigo popped a last piece of sushi in his mouth and stood, straightening his clothes. "I'm always glad to be doing something useful." Renji glanced at him, surprised by the near sadness in his voice. Did Ichigo miss being the guy in charge, the protector of the group? Maybe he did. Maybe that was part of why he was so out of control sometimes.

But again, that was nothing that could be changed. Renji put it out of mind, and led Ichigo to the Division. Pretty quickly, they were both ensconced with the paperwork and to his slight annoyance, Ichigo was very good at it. He didn't even have to ask many questions.

"Dad got me to fill out forms at the clinic." He replied as Renji asked him about it. "You wouldn't believe how many forms a doctor has to fill out. It's like, crazy stupid." Renji nodded, unsurprised.

"Bureaucracies are the universal constant." He agreed and Ichigo flashed him a grin. "You have better handwriting than me, too." Although almost everyone did. Ichigo laughed softly.

"That's not hard – oh hi, Byakuya!" Renji froze up for a moment as he saw his taichou in the doorway. He'd thought the captain's meeting would go on longer. Byakuya looked them both over, expressionless.

"Ichigo, why are you here?" He asked and Renji cringed to himself. This could go wrong so easily. But Ichigo answered easily.

"I offered to help Renji with the paperwork if he agreed to help me scout for squirrels later." Ichigo said and Renji relaxed as he saw Byakuya's lips twitch, ever so slightly. "We hear the Seireitei has quite an infestation, stealing from the bird feeders."

"I see. A worthy cause, I'm sure." He said and Renji blinked. There was something a bit odd about Byakuya's tone, but he couldn't place it before the noble turned away. "When you are done the paperwork, Renji, you can take the rest of the afternoon off."

"Thank you, taichou!" Renji was very glad to hear that Byakuya approved. He was also glad that Ichigo had been tactful for once. He gave the strawberry a smoldering smile that promised pleasure later, before bending down to complete the paperwork.

He couldn't wait to start looking for those squirrels.

* * *

"Mmm, yes, like that." Ichigo moaned, arching slightly into Renji's hands. "Yeeeesss." He hissed the word as their bodies ground together almost painfully. He could feel Hiro's silent approval of the hard body against him, even if his inner hollow would have preferred Zaraki.

They were up on the roof of the dance academy. To Ichigo's surprise and amusement, the roof was perfect for this sort of activity. True, it was remotely possible someone might see them, particularly a shinigami flying overhead. But Ichigo and Renji weren't the least bit concerned about that. They'd found the squirrel and were closing in for the kill.

"You are so fucking sexy, Kurosaki." Renji's breath in his ear made Ichigo thrust up his hips desperately. "So needy, too – oh!" Ichigo retaliated by tweaking his lover's nipples, gently teasing the sensitive flesh. "D-Damn!" Renji rubbed against him more quickly and Ichigo met burning cinnamon eyes before his mouth was covered by Renji's. The kiss filled his mind with fire and he ran his nails down Renji's back, bringing up thin lines of blood.

Then, Renji was reaching behind him, preparing him for the penetration. Ichigo didn't really need much preparation, not anymore. He sometimes topped the redhead, but not that often. Ichigo relaxed into Renji's questing hands, growling with primal lust as he easily found the best spots. He returned the attention, giving Renji quick love bites on his neck and shoulder, his reiatsu already beginning to rise.

"Renji, that feels so damned – ah! Yes!" He arched again as Renji began to enter him, meeting cinnamon eyes that were hazed with heat and lust. He knew his reiatsu was rising too much, and tried to bank it, for the sake of anyone in the dance academy. It was hard, though. He wasn't used to exercising any kind of restraint during sex. The way Renji's reiatsu kept trying to clash with his didn't help a bit. "Ah!" Ichigo grunted as Renji found his prostate, sending a hard jolt of pleasure to his straining cock.

Then Renji began to really take him, setting a hard pace that made him gasp and arch in pleasure, hands digging into strong, well-muscled shoulders. Renji's teeth found the spot where his shoulder met his neck and Ichigo moaned, deeply enjoying the love bites. Hiro approved, too, and Ichigo could feel the hollow trying to rise to the surface. Logic said to suppress him, but instinct led Ichigo to reach out, and he grasped his hollow powers. Skin began to bleed to white as a darkening tongue swiped Renji's throat.

"Shit Ichigo, you're so weird." Renji pulled back slightly, their bodies still moving together as he looked into the face of his lover. Ichigo knew he was seeing Hiro, the dead white skin and the black and gold eyes, but he didn't care, just grinning.

"You forgot 'and sexy'." He said, teasingly, and was glad to hear that his voice was still his own. Renji grinned and nuzzled his throat again, making Ichigo gasp as the pace speeded up, rocking him hard against the roof.

"And sexy. So fucking sexy." Renji's breath was hot in his ear and Ichigo shivered, hard, trying to pull back his errant reiatsu. It was a battle that was doomed to failure, especially when Renji's tongue ran over his throat.

"Nnngh!" Ichigo felt the pulse of power as he arched, his orgasm coming fast and powerful. "Renji!" He screamed the other man's name as his release dampened his chest and belly. A few hard thrusts inside him and he felt Renji stiffen, the other man's release filling him with sticky heat. Ichigo smiled as they both relaxed, just savoring the afterglow. "Renji." Ichigo murmured his name, running a finger over tattoos. He loved those markings, loved touching them. "You are wonderful."

"Thanks. So are you." He said and they kissed again, tongues clashing in an intimate duel. Then Renji pulled back and looked over Ichigo critically. "But you might want to do something about that. You're a little creepy." He warned and Ichigo blinked before giving a small sigh and pulling Hiro back. His skin went back to peach and he looked himself over.

"It's kind of odd. Hiro and I are getting along much better now." He said, trying to clean himself off a little. Fortunately, he'd thought of this and brought some tissues. "We're not remerging, but he's given up on fighting me." It seemed like their fights always devolved into sex anyway. Hiro really was horny as hell, and they seemed to be coming to a kind of balance. Renji blinked at that.

"That doesn't sound much like a hollow. You're sure he isn't plotting something?" He asked and Ichigo considered it as Hiro snorted.

_**Just how to fuck you next time you visit, whore.**_ Ichigo sighed and rolled his eyes at that. He was getting very tired of his inner hollow's term for him. _**I'll call you what you are.**_

"A bit hostile… no, I don't think he's plotting much. He's actually pretty happy with how things are going." Ichigo knew that was true. Hiro was getting to experience a lot of things through him, since Ichigo was willing to share. He honestly thought they were coming to a real understanding, rude terms aside. "I can't explain it, but we just seem to be finding a balance." And Zangetsu was part of that balance, too. His power was a tripod, with one leg being hollow, one shinigami and the last being simply the very essence of himself. If the balance tipped in any direction, they would be weaker, although his hollow self would like to control the tripod. "Mmm." Ichigo lay back, enjoying the sun as he felt lazy and content. He smiled as Renji lay beside him, running a hand down his side. "This feels great, doesn't it?"

"It does." There was an odd note to Renji's voice, though, and Ichigo glanced at him. "I worry for you, sometimes."

"Huh?" Ichigo blinked, wondering what he could be talking about. Then it clicked in his mind. "Oh, you worry about my hollow powers?" He grimaced a little. "I worry about that too. But there's not much to be done." He couldn't make those powers go away, even if he'd wanted to.

"You're right about that." Renji said grimly and Ichigo blinked at the tone before catching the other man's hand and giving him a gentle squeeze. Their eyes met for a moment before Renji sat up. "Are you hungry? Because I'm pretty sure there's a taiyaki place not far from here." At that question Ichigo's stomach rumbled and he grinned, grabbing his clothes.

"I am so hungry. Show me this taiyaki place." They quickly got dressed, then spent the rest of the afternoon first at the taiyaki place, then going on a walk down by the river, quietly talking and enjoying nature. Ichigo just enjoyed being with his lover, and hearing about the things Renji had up to in the 6th Division. It made him wish he could be beside the redhead, hunting hollows and keeping him safe.

Alas, some things simply could not be. Ichigo tried to put aside his feelings and just enjoy the day.

The moment was all he had.

* * *

Ichigo pushed the food around his plate, feeling a bit unhappy. He was having supper with Byakuya and Rukia, but Renji was off at a party with the 11th Division.

"Is something wrong, Ichigo?" Byakuya asked and Ichigo looked up with a small smile.

"Oh, just missing Renji." He said, semi-truthfully. The truth was, he'd expected to be with Renji tonight. Ikkaku had invited him to the party as well. But then Renji had made it quietly clear that he didn't want Ichigo there. Ichigo wasn't sure why. The most hopeful guess he had was that he didn't want Zaraki to pick a fight with him.

Kenpachi was always trying to pick fights with him, and Ichigo sighed to himself as he thought about it. It was getting to be a real problem, because he knew he'd have to dig deep in himself to muster the power to defeat the towering taichou. And while he would have no problem doing that, it might not be wise to reveal just how far he could go to the shinigami. He'd strengthened his links to Zangetsu, and he could draw a lot of power from that part of his abilities, but Hiro was a potent force. Ichigo knew better than to think he wouldn't pull on his hollow in a fight against that lunatic.

"I'm a bit surprised he didn't invite you to go with him to the party." Rukia said with a small frown and Ichigo forced a smile before deliberately eating a bit of food. The stew was good, it didn't deserve to be treated this way.

"Well, we all need time alone with our friends." Ichigo said lightly. He had plenty of time without Renji, more than he would actually have liked. But there wasn't much he could do about that. Renji had duties in his unit, and aside from paperwork, Ichigo was not welcome there. It was frustrating, though. Byakuya and Renji would both have taken him in instantly if they could, the problem lay elsewhere.

"Still, it was not kind of him. I will speak to him." Byakuya said and Ichigo flinched internally.

"It's really not his fault. I… had a separate invitation to go, Renji just didn't think it would be wise." He sighed as they both looked a touch confused. "Kenpachi would be there, and he really wants to see how tough I am." Ichigo said, letting his frustration show. Comprehension dawned in Rukia's eyes and Byakuya frowned, ever so slightly.

"I will speak to Kenpachi then. He should not be harassing you." He said and Ichigo nodded, accepting that. If Byakuya could get Zaraki to back off, he would be grateful for the help.

After supper, Ichigo went to bed and went to commune with Zangetsu and his inner hollow. Not for sex, but just to practice, particularly with Zangetsu.

He needed to master his shinigami powers.

* * *

Things took a very, very bad turn the next day.

"Hi Ichigo!" Ichigo turned with a smile. He was walking the streets of the Seireitei, just taking a walk for fun. He had a small bag of peanuts he was eating, just a little midday snack.

"Hi Renji! Want a… nut…" Ichigo's smile faded as the redhead came up to him, smiling. The smell on him was unmistakable, and the musk was not his. "…" He just stared at Renji, and the redhead blinked, his smile fading as he saw that something was very wrong.

"Ichigo? What's – uck!" Peanuts scattered across the ground as Ichigo abruptly gripped the collar of Renji's clothes, jerking him close. "What the hell? Let go of me!"

"I told you I'm a jealous bastard, Renji." Ichigo's tone was calm, but it was a false front over a quickly building rage. The kind of rage that could obliterate suns. Renji was gripping his wrist, looking at him wide eyed. "Who did you fuck last night? Because I know it wasn't me."

"Wh-What are you talking about? I haven't cheated on you!" Renji squirmed as Ichigo's eyes narrowed to slits. His skin was going white and his eyes were Hiro's.

_**You should kill the bitch.**_ Hiro hissed and Ichigo silently agreed. He was deeply tempted, and Renji's lies were not helping even the slightest bit.

"Don't bullshit me, Renji." Ichigo grinned, and he knew it was a very disturbing expression. Renji was staring at him, a bit of sweat on his face. "I'll let you in on a secret. Hollows can track other hollows for days, over endless sand, by smell. My sense of smell is every bit as good, so I'm not saying I think you had sex. I _know _you had sex. And if that other asshole was here, I'd be able to recognize him just from what he left on you." Ichigo's voice lowered to a snarl. "I should fucking kill you. I – "

"What the hell is going on here?" A cool voice interrupted them and Renji's eyes went very wide as Ichigo suddenly released him and whirled with a vicious snarl. There was a dark haired man standing there, with a strange tattoo on his cheek. Ichigo didn't care about that. What he cared about was the smell, and he could recognize this man's smell, oh yes he could.

_**KILL HIM!**_ Hiro roared with all the possessiveness of a hollow. Ichigo vibrated with the desire to rend and kill, but Zangetsu held him back, quietly reminding him of the consequences. The man across him could feel the deadly force of his reiatsu and pulled out his sword.

"Ichigo, no!" Renji's hand was on his shoulder, yanking him back. "Shuhei, get out of here – mph!" Ichigo straight armed him away, still vibrating with rage. But he had a grip on it now. Not much, but enough.

"Fuck off Renji. I never want to see you again!" He snarled, managing to get back his flesh colored skin. Then he stabbed a glare at Shuhei. "I wish you joy of him. Now, both of you fuck off and die!" He stalked away, his rage smoking in the air behind him. Renji sat up with a pained grunt as Shuhei tilted his head to one side.

"What was that about?" He asked and Renji coughed, looking at his friend.

"Uh, Shuhei? Did we do something we shouldn't have last night?" Renji said tentatively. He'd been very, very drunk and honestly couldn't remember. He'd woken up at home in his apartment, but… someone could have brought him there.

"Oh, that. You don't remember?" Renji's stomach dropped at Shuhei's casual words. So Ichigo was right. "I took you home and you came onto me, so we had some fun. I was pretty drunk too. How'd he know if you didn't?" That was puzzling. Renji pulled himself to his feet, gripping his head. He still had a hangover, and it was coming back with a vengeance.

"Shit." He breathed. He could still feel Ichigo's immense reiatsu, heading away. "I need to tell Byakuya." His taichou was going to rip him a new orifice for hurting Ichigo like this, but someone would have to take care of the aftermath and it couldn't be him. Byakuya would know what to do… and maybe he'd know how to calm Ichigo's temper before something bad happened.

Unfortunately for Renji, Byakuya and Ichigo as well, the irresistible force was about to collide with the immovable object.

"Where is that kid?" Zaraki was looking for Ichigo, but not having much luck. "I want a good fight." He grumbled. He was absolutely dying for a good fight, and his best guess was the kid would give him an excellent one. He'd handled Ikkaku easily, and the powers he'd shown made Kenpachi grin. High speed regeneration? He was so there.

"That way Kenny!" Yachiru pointed but Danica spoke up.

"No no no, just stay right here!" They both looked at her and she grinned cheekily. "Ichigo's really pissed! Can't you feel it?" She said happily and they both looked around. They were feeling something, but they weren't sure what. "He feels like he did when a hollow ate three people, but worse! He's really mad! Someone's in trouble, and he's coming right here!"

"Perfect." Zaraki unsheathed his sword, then shoo'd Yachiru and Danica away. They both took a seat on a nearby wall. "And there he is. HEY! KID! I'm gonna – huh?" Zaraki was absolutely stunned as Ichigo stalked past him, completely ignoring him and his aura of bloodlust. "Hey!" He growled, grabbing the little shit by the back of his collar. "Don't you ignore – OW!" He dropped the kid, stunned, and grimaced. "You fucking shit, you bit me! You better not have rabies."

"Leave me alone." Ichigo snarled. He was trying to hold in his reiatsu, he really was, but the force of his rage was still driving people away. "Now is NOT the time for this Kenpachi!" He tried to warn off the man, his hands clenching. Ichigo wanted nothing more than to unleash his powers against this grinning idiot, but he had to hold it in. He couldn't do what he wanted.

"Now is the perfect time for this." A sword got in his way and Ichigo had to stop or risk impaling himself on the blade. "You're gonna fight me, Kurosaki." Kenpachi was deadly serious now and Ichigo's rage burst out. Bloodlust and rage met, and people a good block away fainted. Danica and Yachiru were both unaffected, however. They both had high reiatsu and long familiarity with the combatants.

"Fine!" Ichigo burst out. "I'll fucking fight you! And you know what? I'll fucking kill you! But not right here, we're in the middle of the Seireitei! Follow me you stupid bastard!" And Ichigo sonido'd out, looking for a good open spot for their duel. The training grounds immediately came to mind and he arrived there to roar at everyone currently there. "Get the fuck out! Kenpachi and I are having a death match!" That cleared out the place instantly, although there were far more watchers than Ichigo would have liked. But the barriers on the training field would keep them safe. Hopefully.

As soon as Kenpachi entered the training grounds, Ichigo went after him. The towering taichou laughed like a lunatic, enjoying every moment of the insanely violent assault. Ichigo went white instantly, and felt Hiro rising behind him. But he didn't reject the hollow or hold him back. No, he reached out to his other self and found it uplifting when that dark power answered him and enfolded him.

Zangetsu was there, too, and the teen blazed with an unholy combination of blue, black and red power. He was overpowering Kenpachi easily, but Ichigo's naturally suspicious mind thought there had to be more to him than this. There had to be something he was holding in reserve –

"HAH!" Zaraki ripped off his eyepatch, grinning like a lunatic, and Ichigo bounced away. He could vaguely feel Hiro's awe and felt Zangetsu's mental pause.

"Well, shit." Ichigo breathed then yelped as pain tore through him. He just managed to dodge enough that Kenpachi's sword didn't bisect him, and his regeneration was taking care of the wound, but it still hurt like a bitch. "Fuck! Getsuga Tenshou!" His rage beat in the air like a living thing as he released a massive attack. Zaraki parried it with an equally powerful burst of gold, and the two powers impacted the shields around the training area. "Fuck!" Ichigo snarled, his rage rising to new heights as Kenpachi grinned at him. He was going to make this bastard _pay._

Red light began to form in one hand. Ichigo had no idea what it was, besides deadly. He could feel the tremendous potential for devastation in that little ball, and he felt it as white armor began to form on his body. His hands were clawed, just as they'd been when he saved Byakuya from the portal. And a mask was starting to form on his face, but Ichigo didn't care. His mind was consumed by the anger, and Hiro was deliberately feeding into it. Ichigo sensed his hollow's intentions and smacked him down with one brutal burst of rage.

_**Holy fuck!**_ Hiro's exclamation was only a side note as Ichigo released the cero in his hand. Kenpachi just barely managed to deflect it and then it slammed into the barrier around the training grounds.

That barrier, which was meant to contain almost any bankai, shuddered. Ichigo didn't care, flying at him. Their swords clashed, raising sparks and he was even more enraged to see that Zaraki was laughing like a lunatic.

"_**Take me seriously, you bastard!"**_ His voice didn't just sound like Hiro, it sounded dark and distorted. Ichigo couldn't spare any time for that, though. He was fully locked into the battle and Zaraki was getting through his guard, threatening to break through bone armor.

"You kidding kid? This is the best fight I've had in YEARS!" Kenpachi's sword grated on his shoulder, slicing through the bone and sending blood flying as Zangetsu darted for his chest. Zaraki dodged slightly and instead of taking his heart, the great blade sliced his chest. "Yeah, fight harder! I know you have it in you!"

"_**Fuck you!"**_ Ichigo grabbed the blood off his shoulder, operating on pure instinct, and began summoning another cero. Instead of red light, the power that formed in his hand was black. He parried Kenpachi's attacks with his zanpakuto as the power continued to charge.

The Gran Rey Cero collided with a tidal wave of golden reiatsu, and the barriers around the training ground violently exploded. Many, many shinigami were knocked back by the force of the colliding powers. There was a tremendous cloud of dust and utter silence for a long moment.

"Are they dead?" Someone said, sounding very shaky.

"Kenny can't die!" Yachiru said confidently.

"Ichi can't die either! He's too mean!" Was Danica's contribution. "They're both still alive, I can feel them! Let's go Yachiru!" They both ran into the dust cloud, ignoring the shouts of the shinigami.

And they were both right. Ichigo was unconscious on the ground, back in his completely shinigami state, with blood splattering the ground beneath him. Kenpachi was in no better shape, lying on the ground across from him with his zanpakuto broken. But they were both still alive, and Danica began tending to Ichigo as Yachiru looked after Kenpachi. Well, in a manner of speaking.

"Hey Ichi, get up!" Danica jumped on the fallen boy's back. There was no reaction. "Hey, are you hurt bad? Ichigo?" She was poking him in the face when the real medics arrived.

"Danica, leave Ichigo alone." Byakuya ordered as several members of the 4th began gathering up the fallen warriors. Danica giggled and ran up to him, hugging his legs.

"Okay nii-san!" Byakuya didn't smile as he watched Ichigo being taken away. Everyone in the Seireitei had felt the power that had broken the barrier on the training field. It wouldn't be long before the news reached the Gotei 13 and Central 46.

And that was nothing to smile about.


End file.
